Face Down
by MisSs005
Summary: Ino always prepared herself for the worst situations,but finding SASUKE in her yard definitely caught her off guard.Especially when she just found out he was supposed to be dead along with the Snake freak.Why is HE here,and what has Itachi to do with it?
1. Bir

**ççççÖÖÖçççç/ Face down \ççççÖÖÖçççç**

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* * *

_Summary: Ino always prepared herself for the worst situations,but finding SASUKE in her yard definitely caught her off guard.Especially when she just found out he was supposed to be dead,along with the Snake freak.Why is HE here,and what has Itachi to do with it?_

* * *

**

**"Normal."**

_Thoughts_

**_Flashbacks_ **

**Jutsu**

* * *

**A/N: Yeah, yeah.. I know, all right! This is normally the place where I bitch 'bout the fact that I haven't got a right to start a new fic till I get off my lazy ass and finish the other ones. But seriously.. I'm sparing ya guys from all of the bull', for once, since I'm having a damn fever and am waaaaaay too sick over my head, lying here on my bed as I write this on my bro's laptop. So, excuse me for just this once. But when I'm sick I tend to write dark, weird shizz', so be warned!**

**This hasn't been beta-readed, and NO.. English isn't my native language, so read at own risk!**

**I wrote this with the insperation of 'Face Down' , go watch it on youtube if you wanna: _http : slashslash www . youtube . com slash watch?vrqhL2Z2SnOw_ **

**Ohh.. well.. that's it, I guess..! I just wanted to spread the Ino-power all over, since she happens to be one of my fave chara's.**

* * *

Konoha never would be the same.. 

She knew it, what was left of the '_rookie-nine_' knew it, the Hokage knew it. And you know what? The entire damn population of the Leaf _knew_ it.

But hey.. They could always pretend, couldn't they?

The could put on a fake smile on their face.

They could busy themselves with the daily missions they were ordered to do.

They could act as if nothing had changed, as if it always had been this way, as if everything was perfectly normal: Life was good and everything would be all right.

They could... They could..

They could, but _she_ as sure as hell_ couldn't_.

Her façade would crumble as soon as she'd reach her apartment. Her beautiful face would look hateful, tortured, old ... _weak_... .

She hated it.

She hated _this_.

She hated the fact that there wasn't a '_rookie-nine_' anymore.

She hated it she couldn't scold her Sensei anymore for 'destroying-her-beautiful-pink-lungs-with-that-piece-of-dirt-sticking-out-between-his-mouth', for he had already been killed in action.

She hated the dull expression that appeared on _Naruto's_ face every time he thought no one was watching.

She hated herself for not being able to restore the big distance between everyone she loved.

But most of all, she hated _him_ , the betrayer.

The one who caused it all. The one who tore everyone apart.

The one who snatched her best friend away from her.

The one who broke her heart, her spirit, her fire.

The one who had turned himself into a monster for his own selfish gain.

"Uchiha Sasuke.."

Even the name itself brought a bitter taste in her mouth.

She undressed, throwing her outfit covered in fresh blood at the furthest corner of her living room and walked straight to the bathroom, not bothering to clean the mess up. She leaned on the wash table and glanced at the mirror. Her hair looked messy, now it was out of its glamorous ponytail. Her golden locks strongly contrasted against the crimson streaking them. She pushed herself off the wash table and wiped a bit of dried blood off her jaw. Her blue eyes looked distanced.

Finally she released a deep, raspy breath and proceeded to take a shower.

She winced as the hot water touched her wounded shoulder.

Maybe she should have gone to _Forehead_ after all...

Ah well.. it didn't really matter now, did it?

Just when she was about to get out of the shower, her phone rang.

She looked up, contemplating whether to reach for it, or not.

In the end she just shrugged it off. It rang a few times and finally someone left a message in her answering machine.

"Ino.. It's me, _Shikamaru_.. Something really troublesome happened, I'm sorry to bother you, but you ought to come immediately to the Interrogation apartment. I'll explain it there. Be fast. And Ino, I _know_ you don't give a shit, but don't even _think_ about ignoring this. And _that_'s and _order_."

Ino sighed and pouted.

Since when did that lazy-bum actually have the guts to order her, _Yamanaka Ino_? If someone would've told her this a few years back, she would have laughed her ass off before beating the guy in a bloody pulp for even daring to mention such a thing.

Even if she was a bit annoyed by Shika's incredible genius mind, she couldn't help but to be proud of the man he had grown into.

Maybe her many beatings and abuses had have a good effect on him after all.

She changed as fast as she could in her normal jounin attire: A long, purple, hugging jacket that reached her thigh, with a fishnet T-shirt under it. Her legs were covered with black, tight pants, reaching her knees. She tied her short hair up in a high knot, grabbed her purple, leather boots and left her apartment.

* * *

"Yamanaka Ino, signing in for duty." 

"Yamanaka-san!," the chuunin behind the desk addressed her, "Nara-san is waiting for you on floor 2, investigation room 11."

"Thank you." She bowed and went on her way to Shikamaru.

She almost let a _'Hey, Shika'_ slip from her mouth as she entered.

"Nara-san, you called for me?"

How much she'd hate to admit it, they were doing there jobs now, and as a professional she knew she had to maintain a certain level of respect with her superiors. Especially when they were accompanied by other shinobi.

Shikamaru's eyes twinkled for a moment, before they returned to the-emotionless-mode.

"Yamanaka-san." He nodded.

"What took you so long, Yamanaka?" The man behind him grumbled intimidating.

She only raised one pale eyebrow when she discovered who the man was.

"Soushou(1)" She acknowledged, knowing she wasn't in a position to piss off her 'sensei'(2) any longer.

Surprisingly it was _her_ who was accepted as the pupil of the legendary Morino Ibiki three years ago. Somehow it seemed that she'd stirred an interest for her Yamanaka-abilities in him. He also liked the fierce spirit and guts she possessed.

Okay, maybe there had been times when he didn't really agree with her ways of torture.. which were consisting a _lot_ of _innocent_ action and less talking. (Hey, she was a woman _right?_ Why wouldn't she use _certain_ tools to make the torture a bit more enjoyable-.. or, err-.. _successful_?)

At first glance Ino wouldn't be a person you'd take serious when compared to the Torture Master Morino.

But looks could be deceiving..

Even _Ibik_i agreed on the fact that some ways of this kunoichi exceeded _his_.

Now _that _meant something.

"May I ask what the occasion is this time?" She asked, eying the two.

Shikamaru cleared his throat.

"We might have found some useful information on the missing-nin Uchiha Sasuke." He said, closely observing her reaction.

She hadn't any.

Not for him to see anyway. But who knew what she was thinking in that pretty head of hers. He continued.

"Last night an Anbu team captured a sound-nin not too far away from the Mist. They successfully delivered her to us. But the thing is the nin has experienced a traumatic event, which has blocked our access to the information..-"

" Oh.. let me guess? That's where_ I _come in, right?"

"Watch out with the attitude, _Yamanaka_" Morino warned.

"Sorry, _soushou._"

"Anyway, Yamanaka-san, your assumption is correct. We'd like you to lend us your Yamanaka abilities."

"Hai."

"Sanjou, let us see the bastard." Morino ordered sternly.

"Y'Sir!"

A few seconds later a battered ninja could be seen behind the huge mirrors covering the walls.

Ino observed her target. It was a woman.

Her hands and feet were tied behind her chair. Her mouth was holden apart by a chain, to keep her from biting her tongue off and commit suicide. Her eyes were empty of any emotion.

_Unconscious, huh? _

"Is there anything else I need to know before I operate?" She asked, looking at her superiors.

"Just be careful, Yamanaka-san. The shinobi's mind isn't exactly synoptic right now. I'd also like to warn you for the contents of her mind. We both know that it takes a _lot _to traumatize a sound nin."

"All right, sir."

Just when she was about to enter the room, she was suddenly interrupted.

"Oh.. and Yamanaka?"

"Hai.. soushou..?"

"I heard she's a bitch.." _Take it easy._

"With all due respect, soushou, we both know who's the greater bitch in here." _Thanks, but you don't need to worry. _

She couldn't help but to grin. Her 'sensei' did have a heart after all.

Her grin disappeared the moment she entered the room and her features hardened.

She observed her target a bit more before finally entering.

_Here we go.._

"**Shintenshin no Jutsu!**"(3)

Her lithe form fell, only to be caught by one of the Anbu before it hit ground.

_Wow.. she sure went through some crazy shit all right._

Ino's first impression wasn't exactly a good one. The mind she was walking looked like a damn battlefield. All of the memories were tore apart. Looking like a big thousand-pieced disheveled puzzle. In her life she'd been blessed to experience a lot of screwed minds. But man.. this seriously could easily make it to her top 5, that was currently topped by Uzumaki Naruto himself.

Oh yeah.. she'd always remember her first time entering her blond friend's mind. How the hell could she ever forget? She hadn't been able to get up for _an entire week_ afterwards. If she wouldn't have been so specialized and good with her techniques, it could've been her death.

"Hmm.. where to look.. where to look?"

_What could possible be the source of this chaos and destruction? _

After walking several minutes she finally found the RED door. She took a deep, deep breath and pushed it open.

It was dark, she couldn't see a thing.

She focused more chakra into her mind, in order to heighten her senses.

There_ she_ was, the _sound -nin_. Sitting on the ground, her knees up her chest, slowly rocking herself.

At first Ino thought the nin hadn't noticed her yet, but then the woman looked up. Her black eyes widening and her lips forming a silent 'o'.

Ino frowned. Normally she would've been able to see the information straight away, but somehow this nin had blocked it away from her mind. This could mean two things:

One: She was a mind-specialist too.

Two: The event she'd gone through, was so traumatizing that her mind had locked it up without her knowledge in order to survive.

At this point she honestly didn't know which one she preferred. Since both would definitely be a pain in the ass to deal with.

She had to find a way to trigger the locked-up information somehow. But _how_?

_I have to find the 'key' to find the event. What could be the key,though? The event is unknown.. maybe it could be a person? An important person... Hmm.. maybe I could Henge Orochimaru. In this state I might make her believe I'm her master and force the information out of her. _

_Here goes nothing.._

_**Henge**_! She thought.

"Speak, woman! Speak...-" A voice not of her own growled dangerously.

And then everything came crashing down..

She_ had_ found the key _alright_. Within a few seconds an entire avalanche of memories, sounds and emotions came crashing down onto her. And soon, she found out she _couldn't_ take the sudden pressure.

She fell on her knees, grabbed her head and groaned, trying hard to maintain her control again.

Her own blue eyes widened as she hissed out one name..:

"S-Sasuke...?"

**!TO BE CONTINUED!**

* * *

_(1)Teacher, master_

_(2)Teacher_

_(3) Mind Body Switch Technique_

* * *

**A/N: That's it for now..! Hope ya liked it..**

**Thanx for readin' and please lemme know what cha think ;))**

**Take care!**

_MisSs005_


	2. Iki

**ççççÖÖÖçççç/ Face down \ççççÖÖÖçççç**

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**_Summary: Ino always prepared herself for the worst situations,but finding SASUKE in her yard definitely caught her off guard.Especially when she just found out he was supposed to be dead,along with the Snake freak.Why is HE here,and what has Itachi to do with it?_ **

* * *

"**Normal."**

_Thoughts_

**_Flashbacks_ **

**Jutsu**

* * *

"S-Sasuke?" Ino choked, grabbing her head. 

The scene in front of her changed.

Suddenly she found herself running. Faster and faster.

Ino grabbed her head.

God... there were so many colors, so many emotions. 

She was running through a dark forest. There was thunder.

She shivered.. It was wet, it was cold and her legs hurt like hell, but she _still_ had to go on.

_Orochimaru-sama! _She took all of her hope and strength from that one thought, _that_ one name.

Ino's heart started to swell up from respect and love and she started running even faster and more determined.

"Ritsu!"

Ino looked right next to her, to the tall man who had caught up with her.

"Hiro!"

"We've gotta be fast. It's already started. Kabuto-sama even almost finished the preparations! Today the Uchiha is finally gonna be sacrificed... "

Ino felt excitement running through her veins and let her seal take over.

"We're almost there! I can taste him, feel him." She hissed, an evil smirk tugging at the ends of her torn lips.

Finally they came to an halt. Her eyes widened.

There was a circle, a circle made of blood and human sacrifices.

There was _him_, Orochimaru-sama, in the midst of it all, facing the little Uchiha brat.

But something...

Something didn't feel quite right...

"Orochimaru-sama! Kabuto-sama!" Hiro cried out on a whim.

_Fool! _Ino cursed.

Exactly one second later an axe came flying down and chopped his head off.

Ino shivered as his blood splattered all over, inclusive onto her face and clothes.

_Shitshitshitshit!_

What _the f-ck_ was exactly going on?

She panicked, slowly moving backwards till she fell over something. The impact softened as she fell on something soft. She opened her eyes...

... Just to look into Kabuto's dead ones.

"K-K-Kabuto-sama!" She gasped terrified. _How? Why!! _

She got up as fast as she could and ran away. _I have to get to Orochimaru-sama!_

Just as she almost reached the _edge_ of the sacrifice-circle, she felt something make contact with her back:

It was a kunai.

Ino gasped out in raw pain.

"O-O-ro-chi-ma-ru-s-sama."

She fell on her knees and crawled her way to the circle, centimeter by centimeter

With the last energy she had, she pushed her face off the muddy earth and looked desperately at her master.

He was lying motionless on the ground along with the Uchiha-kid.

He was dead..

She cried out in an un-humanly, agonizing voice and then...

Everything turned _black_.

Ino screamed.

* * *

"What the hell is happening there!" Shikamaru shouted angrily, suddenly not giving a shit about his rude language. 

"Calm down, brat." Morino ordered sternly. "She's been through worse hell than this, don't you dare underestimating my pupil."

Shikamru tried his hardest not to attack the man.

"What do yo mean? She's obviously not in shape to go through this. And I don't know about _you_, but **I**'m _not_ going to risk the chance to let her die for the sake of some information we don't even _know_ if it's sufficient enough or _not_."

The shadow-user almost flinched as he saw his ex-teammate struggling on the floor. He had never seen anything like this before! Usually her struggles took place mentally, this was the first time he saw her fighting a battle mentally_ and _physically._ What in the world_ was going on in there?

An Anbu appeared next to him.

"Nara-san, should we call of the interrogation?"

"Ye-"

"_No_!" Ibiki ordered in a voice that wouldn't take a no for an answer.

"Look, Nara," He said, facing his pupil's friend. "I understand you're worried 'bout her, but if I know one thing, than it is that that kid _knows_ what she's doing. Maybe you _once_ knew her capacity, but lemme tell you, she has progressed a _lot_ in this past few year and **I **trust her. Till she doesn't give the sign, _no one_ is to interfere. _Understood_? And _that_'s an order."

"Hai." The Anbu bowed and went back to the room.

Shikamaru clenched his fists.

_You better be alright, Ino.. 'Cause if you're not... I.. I-_

He wasn't able to finish that line.

* * *

Back in the interrogation room Ino finally opened her eyes, coughing up blood as she tried to breath regularly. Her chest fell up and down and she wiped away the blood with her hand. She pushed the Anbu holding her away and tried to get up on her own. 

She didn't succeed and fell back into his arms. She finally gave up.

"B-Bring m-me to I-Ibiki-san." She stumbled when she finally regained her breath.

"F-Fast!"

The Anbu nodded, picked her up and walked out of the small room.

"Ino!" Shikamaru sighed relieved at seeing his friend carried back.

Ino offered a half-tired-grin.

"Yamanaka." Her soushou nodded, also looking a bit relieved.

She looked back at the Anbu and ordered him to let go of her.

"But Yamana-"

"I said, l-let go!"

"Hai."

Standing wobbly on her feet, she finally turned to her superiors.

"Nara-san, Morino-soushou, Y-Yamanaka Ino reporting. Mission w-was a succes!"

She took a deep breath and tried to ignore the wave of dizziness suddenly rushing through her head.

"The S-Class c-criminal O-Orochimaru is found death a-along with the missin-nin U-Uchiha S-Sasuke."

The last thing she remembered was the shocked-expressions of the two men.

She fell on her knees and then everything went black...

**!TO BE CONTINUED!**

* * *

**A/N: Man.. I've written that within 30 minutes.. Hope the quality isn't THAT poor. Anywayz, gotta go, should be learnin' for life right now, because I have to VEEERY important test tomorrow.. Wish me luck ;))**

**Thanx for readin' and please lemme know what cha think!**

**Take care..**

**Boobaiz!**

_MisSs005_


	3. Üç

**ççççÖÖÖçççç/ Face down \ççççÖÖÖçççç**

* * *

**_Summary: Ino always prepared herself for the worst situations,but finding SASUKE in her yard definitely caught her off guard.Especially when she just found out he was supposed to be dead,along with the Snake freak.Why is HE here,and what has Itachi to do with it?_ **

* * *

"**Normal."**

_Thoughts_

**_Flashbacks_ **

**Jutsu**

* * *

"_Ughh_.." Ino moaned unhappily, while trying to ignore the splitting headache she had, and struggled to open her eyes. 

"Look! She's waking up! Ino!"

_Ouch.. Why do they have to yell, damn it. 's not like I'm deaf.. _

"Ino! _Inoo_!"

_Grr... Stop. It.!_

"Ino-**PIG**! Don't you _dare_ to ignore me!"

"Stupid Forehead." She grumbled spitefully, finally opening her eyes just to meet two annoyed, green, rolling ones. Ino tried to get up but failed miserably.

"Where the hell am I?" She asked, massaging her temple with her hands.

"Where do you think you _could_ be, smart-ass?"

Ino stopped massaging for a while and looked up.

"Well since your forehead is so freakin' _huge_ I honestly can't tell.. You're kinda _blocking_ the entire view, you know." She couldn't help but to grin lightly as she received the wanted reaction: a few popping veins.

_Aaah_, pissing Sakura off right after waking up was definitely a good way of starting the day. She really should consider making this a daily habit.

"See you're recovering just fine." A third person interfered, chuckling lazily.

"Shika-ma-ru? Missed me?" Ino teased, trying yet again to sit up. This time, though, she succeeded.

"Glad to have you back, Ino." Chouji commented happily while he munched on an apple he recently grabbed from a scale of fruit next to Ino's bed.

"Than- _HEEY_! Wait a sec! Isn't that supposed to be mine! Chou_jiii_!" She nagged, her voice becoming louder with every passing second.

Shikamaru shook his head and sighed before answering with his trademark "Troublesome."

"So.. ," Ino suddenly started getting serious. "For how long have I been out?"

"5 days straight." Sakura responded as she wrote some notes on her medical notebook.

"I recommend you try to be a bit more careful when you use your Mind-transfer jutsus in the future. It almost caused you a few serious injuries..."

The blond mind-walker ignored her statements and asked another question directed to the lazy genius.

"What happened to the female-nin?"

He scowled. "She died from a heart attack the moment you got back into your own body."

Ino bit her underlip in thought and started massaging her temple again to prevent another promising headache that was coming her way.

Shikamaru's features hardened. "I'm serious, Ino. Had you been **one**, and I mean _exactly_ **one **second later, you could've been..."

Sakura looked troubled and Chouji stopped munching on his apple.

Ino sighed, feeling tired all over again. Although she really appreciated her friends being worried over her, it kind off started to piss her off. She wasn't that diet- and fashion-crazed, foolish and _weak_ girl from a few years ago. She had vowed to be stronger, to be smarter, to do the protecting **herself** _for a change._ But most importantly she had promised herself to show that little _Uchiha traitor_ that he had made the biggest mistake from turning his back to Konoha.

She _would_ make him see that _real_ power was something more than hate, loathing and betrayal.

She would make him regret the day he'd chosen that snake bastard over friendship, loyalty and the Leaf. The day he chose _him_ over **_her_**.

Sure. Everyone thought that it was _her_, who had a silly crush.

No, it was _Sakura_, who had _really_ loved him, known him.

What the hell had she done except for _pouncing_ on him once in a while?

**They didn't understand**

They didn't understand that she had given up on her best friend for just the sake of him

They didn't understand the way her heart clenched every time she saw him drowning in his own loneliness, in his own hatred.

They didn't understand why he never once had attempted to push her off when she clung so dearly onto him.

They didn't understand that they had a silent agreement.

They didn't understand that they _understood_ each other.

They didn't know a shit about all her struggles to make him happy, to make him laugh.

And you know why? Because they didn't know him the way she once had known.

Ino's eyes glazed over at one particular memory..

"_**Sasukeeeee! Saskeeeeee-kuuuuun!" A blonde, little girl shouted cheerfully, running through the forest. **_

_**The boy in front of her scowled slightly at the interruption and volume of the blonde. **_

"_**What is it, Ino?" He asked grumbling. **_

"_**Nothing!It's just so b**_**ooooooooor****_ing! Ne, Sasuke-kun, why don't you play tag with me? _Pleaaase_?"_**

"_**No! I'm gonna practise the cool move nii-san showed me. I don't have time for silly girls!"**_

"_**W**_**aaa****_h! Sasuke-kun is a meany!!" She cried out, sticking her tung out. _**

_**He picked up his shurikens and ignored her. "Go away!" He finally shouted when he saw her still standing behind him. **_

_**Their eyes locked and he saw tears burning behind her blue orbs. Her little, pink lips were trembling violently. And suddenly she started crying... **_**hard...**

"_**W**_**aaaaaaa****_h! S-Sasuke-kun is sooooo mean! W_aaaaaaaa_h!" _**

_**Sasuke's eyes widened out of shock and disbelief. The poor boy had never experienced a little girl crying before.**_

**Great_! How was he supposed to make her stop anyway? _**

"_**H-Hey," He said patting her awkwardly on her shoulder. "I d-didn't mean to, really! S-Sorry!" **_

_**He looked up in alarm when he saw that she was still sobbing and decided to pat her again. **_

_**She glanced at him and her sobbing reduced somehow. 'Patting' , Sasuke decided, was the right thing to do when he had to deal with this again. **_

"_**So... Friends?" He finally asked somewhat uncertainly. **_

_**She looked up, sniffling a bit before she answered, her lips turning into a bright smile again. **_

"_**Um! Friends!" **_

"Ino! _Hellooo_, earth to the alien pig!"

She shook her head softly before she finally answered her friends.

"Yes.. " She sighed returning to the topic.

"I could've been _what_? **Dead**? Well, the thing is that I _didn't_. I'm not the same powerless bimbo you knew a few years back. So just maybe it's time you actually believe in my strength and progress and take me serious."

"Ino..." Chouji commented softly, a bit taken back.

Suddenly she pushed herself off the bed and turned to Shikamaru.

"Shika, I wanna fight you."

"What?" The lazy ninja asked dumbfounded.

Ino smiled confidently.

"I said I wanted to fight you, Shikamaru."

Sakura gasped, as she remembered a familiar encounter between her teammate and ex-teammate because of this.

"_**Hey Sasuk-.."**_

"_**Naruto, I want to fight you..." **_

She shuddered involuntarily. That particular encounter didn't exactly take a right turn. In fact, maybe she should try to stop Ino before things started to get out of hand.

"Ino, for God's sake, you're at a hospital!" Sakura persuaded her friend into quitting.

"She's right Ino, we will fight, but _not_ here and _not_ now."

The blonde narrowed her eyes. She didn't know what had possessed her to act this way in the first place, but damn it, she'd have enough of being looked down on. And she also needed an outlet for the frustrations and stress her stupid headache gave.

She needed... _she needed._.. an outlet for this dull pain and emptiness that had come over her the moment she saw _Sasuke's_ dead body.

The biggest vow she'd made to herself...

The_ thing_ that kept her going on and on for all these years...

She had to face the reality. And the reality was that she would _never_ be able to show Sasuke what he missed.

She would never be able to show him _her_.

"Shika," She started more determined than ever, " I need you to fight me _now_."

The said-man sighed. "I guess you don't leave me a choice,_ eh_, Ino? How bothersome..." He pushed himself off the wall and walked out of the room, leaving a stunned Chouji and Sakura behind.

"Meet me at our training ground in one hour." He commended lazily, before he closed the door.

He'd known that something was wrong with his childhood friend the moment she'd waken up. He couldn't exactly figure out what, but his gut told him that it had something to do with the previous interrogation she took charge of.

_The Snake sannin and Uchiha _Sasuke_ dead... If it were really true, it would be too fortunate. But there is a chance... For the past few days both of them haven't been located. And the blood on the scene... it belonged to them. Sigh... I really have to talk to Ino about what she saw in the first place._

_Ah well... maybe after the fight when she's vented her anger on me just like the old days.._

He chuckled.

_Hmm.. I'm actually looking forward to this troublesome fight.. Wonder how much she's improved.._

* * *

"Ino, " Sakura asked worried, "Are you really sure about this..? You should take it slow and..-" 

"Shut up, Forehead-girl." Ino answered teasingly. " I'm a big girl now, besides I haven't sparred with Shika for a while. I'm gonna test if that lazy-ass did get off his butt and made some progress."

Chouji had left a while ago and they were now the only persons left in the room.

"But.. you're not stable, Ino! You should rest a bit more!" The pink-haired medic continued stubbornly.

"Relax, Sakura! It's Shikamaru we're talking about! He won't kill me or anything! He'll be afraid to, since he knows damn well that my spirit would hunt his ass 24-7 if he did." She responded, changing into her ninja attire.

Sakura frowned, still not looking convinced.

"Okay, _okay_! You can come along, if you still don't trust it. If something happens, you'll be there to save the day. Happy?"

"Whatever." Tsunade's apprentice muttered, finally giving in.

"Hmm.. that's solved then! I'll see you on Team 10's old training grounds!"

"Hai, hai."

"And oh,_ Sakura_," The blonde turned around before leaving. " If you come, _please_ cover that huge forehead of yours... otherwise it'll be _too_ much of a distraction." She poofed away in a second and was gone before the pink-haired girl coul register what she'd said.

"**_INOOOO-PIIIIIG!" _**

* * *

Finally... it was time. 

Ino took her time with walking to the training grounds, a wave of memories entering her mind.

God, what she would do to go back to the time of the rookie nine.

The time she would curse Asuma-sensei for his disgusting smoking habit, she would whack Shika and Chouji and force them to go shopping with her, she would pounce on Sasuke to spite Sakura...

_Ahh_.. such delightful memories.

The future had brought nothing then loss, pain and blood.

"You're late." Shikamaru commented, interrupting her thinking.

"Sorry!." She looked up and offered him a smile, but soon it turned into a scowl.

"What the hell is everybody doing here?"

The place was full of comrades and friends who had gathered as an audience.

The genius sighed. "Don't look at me, I didn't say or do anything."

Her glare turned to the pink medic.

"Don't tell me you couldn't keep your big mouth shut, Forehead-girl!" She accused.

Sakura shrugged her shoulders innocently.

"I was just on my way here when I met Rock Lee and he decided to..-"

Ino interrupted her and groaned. She already did have an idea of what happened next anyway.

"YOSH! INO! MY COMRADE! MY BEAUTIFUL GOLDEN FLOWER! I'M SO EXCITED! EVERYONE IS HERE TO SEE YOU SPREAD YOUR POWERFULL FLAMES OF YOUTH!"

_Lee.. _The said 'golden flower' sulked._ Just shut up!_

And it wasn't just Rock Lee, Ino noticed as she looked around. From here she could see Ten-Ten, Hinata, Neji, Shino, Kiba, Naruto, Chouji, Genma, Kakashi..- WAIT! Kakashi? What the hell was he doing here?

"Oh. My. God." She whispered as she saw even JIRAIYA and TSUNADE take a seat.

_What in the world? I'm SO gonna kill Sakura and Lee after this.. _

"Yamanaka.." She jumped as she heard someone behind her speak suddenly and slowly turned around.

Her jaw fell to the ground.

"Shisou?" She cried alarmed.

Orino Ibiki grinned sadistically.

"Show no mercy." With that he disappeared and re-appeared next to Kakashi and Genma.

She turned back to Shikamaru, wondering how he could be so freakin' calm about this.

"How?" She asked once again.

Shikamaru just shrugged his shoulder. "Lee called out in the speaker's room on the Hokage tower."

The blonde's mouth formed a silent 'o'.

"Ino!" She turned to face the Godaime's hazel eyes.

"You better win this one, _girl_, or I'll lose my bet." She closed in.

"We _wouldn't_ want _that_ now would we?"

Ino nodded soundlessly and shivered involuntarily at the Godaime's threatening glare.

"Anyways, good luck!" She said afterwards patting her on the shoulder.

"Er.. thanks." She answered.

The Godaime raised her hands and suddenly it was silent.

"The fight Nara Shikamaru vs Yamanaka Ino starts now! Genma will be the judge. The fight will continue until someone forfeits or won't be able to go on. _Understood_?!"

Both of them nodded and walked right in front of each other.

"Good luck Shikamaru."

He nodded after mumbling a 'troublesome'. _Damn it!_ Why did he always have to fight girls?

"And... _BEGIN_!"

**!TO BE CONTINUED! **

* * *

_**The Next time:** _

_**... Ino's kick-ass fight with Shikamaru. **_

_**... Ino'll stumble on a certain Uchiha in her frontyard.**_

* * *

_A/N: At first I wanted to make Sasuke's appearance on this chap, but then I kinda made it too long, so it'll be postponed till the next time. Seriously, I hadn't even planned for the fight between Shika and Ino, it just kinda flowed out of my fingers before I even knew what I was writing. _

_Once again I want to apoligize for spelling- and, or grammar mistakes... 'cause I still haven't got a beta-reader for this fic._

_An-oh, just before I forget to mention... I've never really written a fighting scene, so there is a VERY high possibility it's gonna suck. I'm still gonna try hard, though._

_Anywayz.. thanx for botherin' to read and please lemme know what cha think... 'cause I definitely need all the suport I can get.. _

**MisSs005**


	4. Dört

**ççççÖÖÖçççç/ Face down \ççççÖÖÖçççç**

* * *

**_Summary: Ino always prepared herself for the worst situations,but finding SASUKE in her yard definitely caught her off guard. Especially when she just found out he was supposed to be dead,along with the Snake freak. Why is HE here,and what has Itachi to do with it?_ **

* * *

"**Normal."**

_Thoughts_

**_Flashbacks_ **

**Jutsu**

* * *

"**And... _BEGIN_!"**

Silence..

Ino observed her opponent's every move, every look and _even_ every breath. As always Shikamaru was just standing there. Doing absolutely _nothing_ at all.. just standing. He'd even closed his eyes! Ino grinned mentally. Maybe any other nin would choose now to operate and catch him off guard, but she was _not_ like any other shinobi.

She was Ino.. _Yamanaka Ino_..

She was the girl who'd been his teammate for _years_, who'd caused numeral bumps on his pine-apple head, _heck_, **she** had been the one who'd invented the damn name!

_She_ was the person he'd have his first kiss with. _She _was one of his best friends.

So yeah, to say that they had quite an history together wouldn't be an understatement.

And even if he was standing there, seemingly doing 'nothing', she knew better.

_Always_ look underneath the underneath, a saying which was known world wide by every ninja..

And to be frank, well underneath Shika was a genius, but _underneath the underneath_, Shika was not only a genius, he was a SUPER-determined-stubborn-strong genius. So all in all, he was the best opponent or the worst one, it depended on how she'd look at it, she had to fight up until now.

She had to admit she was a bit jumpy, not exactly frightened but more like anxious. She hadn't fought with the shadow-user in a while nor had she seen him in action for a long time. Because she was now the apprentice of Morino she spent an awful lot of time at the interrogation centre and had rarely field-missions. And even if she had one, she already had an assigned partner: _Hyuuga Neji_.

At the first glance most people would think the person who'd paired them up had to be nuts.

They were partly right, Morino Ibiki was a bit on the crazy side, but he was also one hell of a leader with lots of experience. So the man _knew_ what he was doing.

Even though Ino knew this, she'd gone ballistic when she heard that he'd paired her up with the Hyuuga _permanently_. She hadn't even got a say in it and she hated it at first. Neji just reminded her too much of a certain traitor she couldn't get her mind off.

They both acted as if they had a stick shove up their asses.

They didn't like to talk, heck they didn't like _any_thing. _Period._

They always answered with a 'Hn', and she never knew in which statement they used that stupid 'Hn'.

They were damn prodigies.

And they were _too_ freakin' handsome for their own good.

The Hyuuga-prodigy wasn't exactly content with their forced co-operation either. In fact he even tried to go against the decision. Which didn't, well, have much succes. They had to admit, though, that their abilities, his Byakugan and her Mind-transfer jutsu, were well fitted to one another. He could exactly pinpoint her target with his eyes and could tell her the precise co-ordinations she had to follow when she entered a mind from afar.

And after a few missions in which they'd been together, they found out it wasn't really that bad after all. At first he was rated 'acceptable', then it turned into 'almost enjoyable'; and after a very dangerous mission which had almost cost her her life if it weren't for him, she accepted him as a friend. She still didn't know how he felt about her though. But she knew he respected her and her abilities and that he was able to count on her. That on itself was enough for her.

She breathed calmly and glanced once again at Shikamaru, who still hadn't moved either, she noticed.

_I guess I'll have to make the first move, because it's the lazy-ass we're talking about. He'll probably want to test my abilities and improvements before he strikes. But then again, he expects me to attack first, so wouldn't it be better if I just didn't do it? _

5 minutes passed...

Ino looked at the position of the sun. If she wanted to beat this guy, she had to observe her surroundings to the fullest. She had to be aware of every sunlight, wind, ground and _shadow_..

Suddenly she had an idea to perhaps surprise her precious, genius friend.

She draw a deep breath in, capturing the wanted attention of her audience and her opponent, and breathed out once again, her form lifting into a...

-..._traditional-Hyuuga-Style taijitsu: Jyuuken_?

Midst the audience Hyuuga Neji choked as everyone next to him gasped. Even Shikamaru's eyes widened for a second.

Yamanaka Ino smirked, lifting her left hand a bit more, and signaled him as a dare to come at her.

The shadow-user's eyes narrowed, but he didn't move from his spot.

She mentally cursed.

_Uggh! Dammit! I'm so not gonna wait the entire day for his lazy-butt to come at me! _

She had never been patient in the past, so why should she start being now?

Still in the Jyuuken-formation, she sprinted right at him, already in range for his Kage Mane.

**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! **She screamed in her mind, as an extra pebble that went unnoticed, appeared on the ground behind her opponent.

Shikamaru's features hardened. _What the hell is she trying to do? Walking right into my Kage Mane? _

"**Kage Mane no Jutsu.**" He spoke calmly as his shadow reached out for Ino's.

Just before his shadow prisoned hers, she did a replacement jutsu and a Henge at the same time. The pebble behind Shikamaru turned into a bunshin Ino and replaced the real Ino, who was now behind him.

As his shadow made contact with the 'fake-bunshin' her, her bunshin poofed, revealing smoke.

_What the.. _

Ino immediately took her gain from the two seconds of confusion of her opponent and attacked.

"**Buro-Seishin no Jutsu**.(1)" She cried out loud this time, sending him a blow of raw mind energy to his mind and making him fall down on his knees from the sudden force.

She immediately pulled out two of her kunai and connected them with her chakra before she threw them right at her target as a lasso, capturing him and immobilising him as a result. She focused some more chakra in her string as Shikamaru recovered from her previous attack and started to struggle. She walked in front of him and put her hands on her hips for a second.

"_Tsk, tsk_, Shika, just act like a nice boy and don't make it any harder for yourself."

His eyes narrowed as she made the seals for a jutsu with whom he was _very_ familiar with. _But wait a sec_.. the last seal she'd made... that didn't belong to her Mind Body transfer jutsu...

"**Bu**-**Shintenshin no Jutsu **(2)!" Everyone waited for her to fall on the ground, only to find out...

... she _didn't_.

She was still standing tall, a wicked smile gracing her lips as she turned to the audience and winked.

"What the-!"

"-...Maybe her jutsu didn't succeed?"

"Yeah, isn't she supposed to...-?"

In the midst of the crowd Neji smirked. _Just wait until you see what she can pull off. This is only the beginning.._

On the ground 'Shikamaru' finally opened his eyes and he _smirked_.

"Bu-Shintenshin no Jutsu was a.. _success_...!" He said while 'giggling'.

* * *

"_Ooo_kay... can someone here tell me _what_ _in the world_ is going on?" Naruto asked, scratching his neck as a habit. 

"Shouldn't she like.. _fall down_ or anything when she enters someone's mind?"

Neji, who was standing right next to him chuckled lightly before he answered the questioning glares and comments of his friends.

"No, this is her_ Bu_-Shintenshin, you're all confusing it with her Shintenshin no Jutsu."

"Bu... Shintenshin?" Hinata asked slowly and softly.

"Yep!" Ten-Ten answered cheerfully. She'd seen Ino spar with Neji sometimes and had even sparred with the girl herself a number of times. Placing her eyes at the fight again she explained it further to the listening crowd.

"The Bu-Shintenshin is another Yamanaka technique she's come up with, in which the user can split her mind in two and send a part to her target, while maintaining the other part in her, or his own body. That's why it's called '_Bu_' Shintenshin no Jutsu: _Part_ Mind Body transfer skill."

"Wow.." Sakura commented as she too averted her eyes to her friend.

She never knew Ino had progressed so much..

_I wonder why she didn't tell me.. We used to tell each other everything, but now it seems as if we're growing more and more apart with every passing day. It kinda... scares... me. _

As she watched Ino fight, she vowed herself to try her hardest to become her best friend again.

"So you're saying she actually can split her mind?" Chouji asked, as he stopped eating his bag of chips. Even he hadn't known about Ino's new ability.

"Yes." Neji spoke again. "But it does make it harder to control her target's mind, so it costs her more chakra and focus. That's why she attacked Nara's mind first before she used this jutsu, she weakened him so it would be easier to enter his mind without struggle."

"Sounds like a good strategy. Damn never knew the blonde had it in her, right Akamaru?" Kiba commented as Akamaru barked in approval.

"I still think her strategy isn't that effective since she wouldn't be able to hurt her opponent in any way, because if she did so, she would immobilise herself in progress." Shino stated calmly and indifferent.

Morino Ibiki chuckled sadistically as he heard this.

"That may be so, brat, but don't forget that she has been in my apprenticeship for three years now. Don't insult my abilities to think that I wouldn't be able to detect such a big flaw.."

Ten-Ten turned to the bug-user and smiled at him.

"Just watch the fight, Shino-san. I promise you won't be disappointed."

Shino pushed his shades back up his nose as an response and turned to the fight.

Tsunade's eyes twinkled as she rubbed her hands happily.

_Oh.. yeah_..! She would become a very _rich_ woman after this fight...

_Jiraiya was going down._

* * *

"Hiya Shika!" Ino greeted her old buddy as she entered _and _took control of his mind. 

"Ino..." The said-old-buddy growled annoyed.

"_Aww_.. Now, now.. Don't be like that!"

"What do you think you're going to do anyway? You can't hurt me, remember? You're own body is useless right now, _how_ do you think of attacking me?" He said stating the obvious.

Ino just smirked.

"You're not the only one who may have improved Shikamaru.. I know I'm not a genius like you, nor will I ever become one, but that doesn't mean that I won't try my hardest to progress."

She forced his body to open his eyes.

"I-Impossible.."

He was now staring through Ino to another standing... _Ino_...?

"How?"

"Bu-Shintenshin no Jutsu was a.. _succes_...!" She forced his body yet again to speak. She even made him giggle!

"Already pleased to meet my Bu-Shintenshin.. _pine-apple head_?" She said mockingly.

"Bu-Shintenshin..?"

"Yep! The one and only! I'd like to give you one long, nice, cool explanation, but since you've a possession of a great genius mind, I leave it up to you."

He shook his head softly. "So I guess you've finally found a way to split your mind, eh?"

She studied her purple dyed nails, not even _trying_ to look a bit modest.

_That's the Ino I know.. _

"Well, yeah.. You know, I kinda experimented with a couple of my clan's jutsus..."

"You experimented well, but it's still not good enough. Even if you have a body to attack with, you'll only hurt your own body as well if you do so. "

The blonde looked up.. _bored_...

"_Hmmm_? Oh.. you're talking about _that_? Don't you even worry about it! You'll see it soon enough for yourself.."

Ino had 4 minutes left before she would be forced to leave his body and enter hers fully.

For someone normal 4 minutes wasn't all that much, but she was a ninja.

And in her career it could only take 1 second to kill someone, let alone _4 entire minutes_.

She considered herself lucky.

"**Baria-Seishin no Jutsu **(3)!" She said softly, creating a barrier of chakra around her form for defence.

Shikamaru's eyes widened. A mind barrier? That meant she could...

"Yes, Shika. That means I can now attack you without having to hurt myself! Isn't that nice?"

Outside, the 'real' Ino directed her hands to her target: Nara _the Lazy-bum _Shikamaru before she did a couple of seals.

"**Buro Seishin no Jutsu** (1)!" She shouted, sending a huge blow of mind energy to her opponent, which in this case was poor, _poor_ Shikamaru.

He almost cried out in pain, mentally and _physically_.

Ino couldn't help but flinch a bit as she saw her friend grimacing, but she shook her head forcefully. This was a spar! He wouldn't go easy on her either! That would certainly be a huge blow to the ego.

"_And_..? Hurts like a bitch, doesn't it?"

He just growled in response. It was too troublesome to answer anyway.

"Well, it _should_ hurt. With _that _amount of chakra I put in it; it effects the mind _as well as _the body. If the mind really goes through a lot of stress and pain it reflects it on the body itself. But I think that you already know this, if you didn't.. wel let's say that you learned it the _hard_ way."

"Y-you have 2 minutes left, what are you going to do next.. _Ino_?"

She bit her lip dramatically as if she were really hard in thought.

"Hmm.. We have an easy and a hard way: You could just... like forfeit or I could go on with sending you another one of my Buro Seishin and then another one over and over again, with even _much more chakra_, till you forfeit! So... what's it gonna be? But before you make your choice.. I'm not going easy on you, Shikamaru. I have practised a LOT with this technique and all I need is less than 1 minute to make someone go crazy. _Please_ choose wisely."

The shadow-user chuckled.

"I've gotta admit, Ino, you've improved a lot since the last time we fought. Heck, if you had sparred with someone _else_, you might have won. But you know what; it's a pity you're fighting against _me_, and I'll never let a _woman_ surpass a man in a fight. Hell. _No_."

Her jaw fell in pure shock and anger and her eyes narrowed.

How dare he... that.. _that_.. **UGHH**!

She took a deep breath to control herself and smiled over-sweetly, _too_ sweet.

"Well.. Shika-_chan, _why don't we play a little to find out _who_ will surpass the other?"

He smirked in response. "That's alright with me, in fact I was about to suggest it myself."

Ino had planned everything out perfectly, but she had all but one flaw in her strategy...

... Nara Shikamaru was a genius. He could be called a prodigy when considered _mentally_.

That was where he found his strength most of the times. And that was _exactly_ the place _where_ he found his strength and victory_ this _time.

Shikamaru did the ultimate attack he could perform: he _thought_.

Suddenly Ino grimaced as a huge wave of thoughts entered her mind, catching her off guard.

Images, numbers, co-ordinations, memories.

So much, so big, so _overwhelming_...!

She tried hard to maintain her focus again but failed miserably as she saw another disturbing image that almost made her fall over.

It was Shikamaru himself in the shower... doing _stuff._.. and he WASN'T alone...!

"W-what the fuck!" She stuttered her cheeks flaming up.

That lazy-bum with the Sabaku no bitch... _Temari_??

_Ohmygod_**ohmygod**_Ohmygod_**ohmygod**_Ohmygod_**ohmygod**_Ohmygod_**ohmygod**

Okay, she'd known that they 'interacted' a _lot_, but she'd never thought that they'd actually become _this_ intimate.

_Fuck!_ She didn't even now that he wasn't a virgin anymore! Who could have possibly thought that he'd get laid before she would?

"Damn it! Shikamaru y-you're playing dirty, y-you bastard!" She screamed falling down to her knees as she tried to force the thoughts, crashing down onto her ,away.

Finally having maintained the most of his control, he grinned innocently.

"Now, now.. Ino, I thought _you_ were the one always saying all was fair in_ love and war_."

She scowled. "That's just cheating!"

He laughed as her face turned even redder as he sent another particular encounter with Temari into her mind. Their position was a bit '_unusual_' to say at it least.

"Dammit! Shikamaru! Stop sending me those damn images! I'M STILL A VIRGIN!" She yelled at the top of her lungs.

Shikamaru just looked smugly in return as he repeated her former speech.

" _Hmm.. _We have an easy and a hard way: You could just... like forfeit or I could go on sending you another one of my lovely encounters with Temari. So... what's it gonna be? But before you make your choice.. I'm not going easy on you,_ Ino_. I have practised a LOT with lots of _original_ positions and all I need is less than 1 minute to make _you_ go crazy. Please choose wisely." He mimicked her.

Ino forced her head up and looked him in in the eyes before she answered.

"That's just_ low_..."

He shrugged his shoulders in return.

"You have one minute left..."

"_Arghh_! Fuck it! Whatever!" She cursed out loud, as she fully returned to her own body.

She was exactly one second to late to perform another attack as his shadow caught hers.

"Bastard!" Was all that she could manage to say, before _he_ finally controlled _her_.

"So, Ino.. how does it feel to be on the other side for a change?" He said smirking as he took a step towards him, forcing her to take a step as well.

"Like I said, you've improved a lot, I'm actually very proud of you. But you made one mistake, you attacked me _mentally_, while you knew that my _mind_ is my greatest weapon."

They were standing face to face now.

"But I gotta admit, this was the best spar I had in a while in which I was close to losing. Anyways, any last words?"

She pouted. "What you did was just plain mean!" She shuddered mentally at the previous received images of her friend doing not-so-_innocent_ things.

_I think he may have scarred me for life. There's absolutely NO way I'll be able to look at them normally after this. _

"Anyways, exactly _how_ are you going to 'finish me off'. I think you already noticed that there isn't a wall behind my head, so you can't win this fight with just bending a bit." She challenged him.

He raised his eyebrows and after a few seconds another Shikamaru appeared out of the bushes.

"What the..-" Her eyes widened.

"Kage Bunshin?"

He nodded indifferently.

Her eyes narrowed. "But when?"

"The moment you pulled out those kunai after hitting me with your Buro Seishin. I didn't know what to expect, so I made a Kage Bunshin and replaced it with a pebble in the bushes when you looked away. You were too busy preparing for your other attack and thought the Buro Seishin had fully immobilised me. But even though it did hurt, I was still able to preform jutsus, I didn't move, though, because I was curious to find out your abilities."

She huffed. Even after all these years _he_ always thought a step further than _her_. It kinda pissed her off.

"You still played dirty!" She backfired, giving in to the urge of sticking her tung out.

"Whatever." He shrugged as his Kage Bunshin pulled a kunai out and held it to her throat.

"I win."

She sighed defeated.

But the moment he released his Kage Mane she called out for him:

"_Oooooo_h.. Shik_aaaaaaaa_... " Her hands grabbed his arm forcefully and she pulled him towards her..

-... just to harshly kick his shin.

"And _that_, my _dear _pine-apple head, is for _scarring me for life_!" She finished as he groaned in pain.

"Troublesome woman.." He muttered annoyed.

* * *

To say that Ino was a bit tired, was a huge understatement. 

The fight had drained a lot of her chakra as well as it had drained her _mentally_.

_Yuck! Yuck! Yuck! Don't even try to go there.. you stupid head!_

She couldn't help but to blush as her mind _did_ go THERE.

Anyway, she was glad to have been able to survive the day in one piece, 'cause for a moment she'd really thought that Tsunade was gonna kill her fine ass because she'd lost.

But it'd been a nice surprise when the Godaime had actually _praised _her skills, although it'd been an anti-climax when her praising followed with a stern: "That doesn't mean I'm _not_ gonna make you work like hell for _24-7_, girl! You've caused me to lose _a lot _of money and I'm gonna make sure that you earn me mine _every last yen _back, _understood_?"

Even Neji had told her it was a nice spar! _The_ Hyuuga Neji _complimented_ HER...?

"But why did you imitate the Jyuuken?" He wondered.

She just shrugged. "Wanted to catch him off guard, so I bluffed."

"So that's the reason?"

She chuckled naughtily. "Well _that_ and partly because it always looks so damn _cool_ when _you_ do it and I've always wanted to do it myself one day."

"..."

She smiled as she thought of the look on his face. It was just _so_ adorable. She almost gave in to the urge of pinching his cheeks.

_Ahh_.. finally! She could see her appartement from here. She was almost home!

She knew she'd deserved a wonderful, hot, _long_ bath after that fight. And not only because of the fight, but also because she'd been forced by that lazy-bum and her shoushou to come to the interrogation-centre for further explanation of what she'd seen in the mind of that sound-nin.

It had been one long, unpleasant _chat_, at it least.

She really didn't want to remember anything about the Uchiha, and if it were for her , she'd turn back time to erase the image of his dead body, which was now burned in her mind forever.

Just _great_, she wouldn't be able to sleep tonight _again_.

She finally reached her appartement, only to find someone lying _face down _on the lawn.

_Maybe one of the neighbours got boozed after drinking one glass too much...? _

"Hey!" She called out as she walked closer. Her eyes widened as a smell of blood hit her.

_Maybe he or she is hurt! Gotta be fast!_

She got on her knees and softly shook the person's shoulder.

No response, but she could feel him, her shift a bit.

She slowly turned the person around: He or she was covered in blood!

She still couldn't see his or her face, though, and decided to slowly remove the battered material.

Silence..

The cloak fell out of her hand the moment she saw _his _face.

Silky, black, long hair with _blood_ adorning them.

Pale skin, high cheekbones, small torn lips.

And worn out eyes finally opening... revealing _onyx black_ locking with her blue, shocked, teary ones.

"N-No.." She whispered. _No,no,no,no,no,no,NO,NO,NOOO!_

"_Aa_... L-long time no see.. _Ino_." He choked out some more blood before he finally lost his concious.

The person in her arms...

_..Uchiha Sasuke.._

**!TO BE CONTINUED!**

* * *

_(1)Buro Seishin no Jutsu: Somethin' I made up ;)) It literally means Mind Blow Skill_

_(2)Bu-Shintenshin no Jutsu: Once again somethin' I made up x).. Means: Part -Mind Body Switch Skill. _

_(3)Baria-Seishin no Jutsu: Yeah, yeah.. I made this one up friggin' AGAIN, savvy?Means: Barrier Mind Skill_

* * *

**A/N: Pffft... finally... DONE... ! I really did my best with the 'fightin' stuff, but I'll let you guys be the judge of it's content. To me it looked .. alright.. if I closed my eyes and imagined it... but in words.. I seriously dunno X**

**Anywayz, ya know it's funny, this is like maybe the first time I'm so eager to write and update a fic regularly, but like no one really 'likes' this story.. xX'**

**Heh.. I dunno 'bout you guys, but I'm VERY stubborn and I'll continue anywayz even if _one_ person is readin' it. (probably myself ') **

**Thanx for botherin' to read and please lemme know what cha think!**

_MisSs005_


	5. Bes

**ççççÖÖÖçççç/ Face down \ççççÖÖÖçççç**

* * *

**_Summary: Ino always prepared herself for the worst situations,but finding SASUKE in her yard definitely caught her off guard. Especially when she just found out he was supposed to be dead,along with the Snake freak. Why is HE here,and what has Itachi to do with it?_ **

* * *

"**Normal."**

_Thoughts_

**_Flashbacks_ **

**Jutsu**

* * *

It was finally time... 

Five gruesome years had already passed in the blink of an eye.

Five years of blood, murder, hate and darkness.

Five years of pushing himself to the limit, of wearing his body out, of merciless killing a lot of innocent people, of serving _him_, of selling his soul to _him_ in order to turn his ambition of killing a certain ..._person_... into reality.

Exactly five years, 11 months, 2 weeks and 5 days had passed since his betrayal of Konoha,

.. since his betrayal of things called 'emotion' , 'friendship' and '_love_'.

... since his betrayal of _her_.

It was ironic... of all of the things he could think of, he could remember, he could _cherish_, he chose _her_.

Not his mother, not his fond family memories, not the loud-dobe whom he considered a brother once upon a time, but_ her_.

For once he allowed himself to relax, to accept the memories of her teasing smile, the naughty twinkle in her eye, the wannabe 'seductive' tone, which annoyed the hell out of him, she used on him in front of Sakura, the feeling of her soft, blonde hair in the back of his neck every time she literally jumped on him.

But most of all he let himself drown into the memories of their childhood.

To the moments in which they were both able to smile. To the moments in which they shared their laughter without any worries.

To the moments in which his innocence wasn't tainted _yet_.

And for a brief second, he wondered.

What if he hadn't chosen to leave the Leaf?

What if the idiot _did _manage to take him back to their home village?

What if he'd taken _her_ along with him on his way to the road of destruction, power for hunger and hate?

What if Itachi_ hadn't_ massacred the entire clan?

What if, _what if._..?

His fist made contact with the hard, wooden wall next to him.

It didn't matter.

Nothing did matter anymore!

He _had _chosen the Sound over the Leaf.

The dobe _didn't_ manage to haul his ass back.

He _hadn't_ taken that pest of a woman with him.

And Itachi, that bastard, sure as hell _did_ massacre the entire clan.

He rested his head against the cold, damp wood.

_Why_ did he _voluntarily_ think about this entire shit again?

Well, that could have several reasons actually, but the most important of them all was perhaps the fact that he was about to be robbed of his body and soul and _the_ Uchiha Sasuke would be seized to exist from this day on, only to be replaced by the one and only famous Snake Sannin.

"Sasuke-sama, the preparations have already been finished and Orochimaru-sama is waiting for your departure."

The silver-haired, number one servant of the said man appeared in his room.

"_Hn_."

Just before the man was about to leave Sasuke called him back.

"And Kabuto...-"

"Yes, Sasuke-sama?" Kabuto turned around and pushed his glasses back onto the bridge of his nose before answering.

The Uchiha hesitated a second and his jaw tensed.

"Have there been any signs of Konoha-nin in the surroundings lately?"

The medic-nin observed the vessel of his master as a wicked smile tugged at the end of his lips.

"Don't you worry, Sasuke-_sama_," He said in a mocking tone. " There won't be any interruptions _this_ time. Everything has been taken care of..."

"Leave." Sasuke ordered mono-toned the moment he felt he didn't need the use of the lower-ranked shinobi.

"As you wish." Kabuto bowed formally and left him all alone with his final thoughts.

* * *

"Heard your brother is gonna be owned by that Snake...-" 

"..."

Kisame growled softly, pure annoyance evident in his brutal voice.

Why did they have to assign _him_ of all freakin' people as his partner dammit?

The guy was not amusing at all!

He barely spoke, he never answered anything that was asked of him and the most irritating of all: he forbade him to kill anyone whom they weren't assigned to!

Where was the fun in that?

Even when he could finally kill someone; he was ordered to do it fast and clear. He couldn't even toy with his petty victims!

Life was just not fair!

He had entered a damn criminal organisation for god's sake and still all they did was bitch about him having his fun once in a while.

Itachi suddenly stopped and spoke without turning around to face him.

"I have some business which needs to be taken care of. I assume you're able to take care of the assigned mission yourself?"

The Shark grinned showing his sharp, white teeth off.

"Hell, _yeah._.. I'll see you when I'll see you, I guess."

"That's settled then."

Kisame allowed a light chuckle to escape from his mouth the moment the pretty-boy Uchiha Itachi disappeared.

_Oh.. yeah_.. he had a _lot _of build-up frustration he would most _gladly_ vent out on a couple of arrogant Daimyo.

And the good part was the Uchiha wouldn't be there to babysit him...

Things were gonna get _messy_...

not to mention _bloody_...

and he was gonna enjoy _every_ second of it.

* * *

"I'm ready when you are... Sasuke-_kun_..." 

Sasuke eyed the sannin in front of him and felt slightly disgusted at the obvious wanting in his eyes.

His eyes could vaguely make out the weird, ancient seals and signs at the edges of the circle he was standing in.

Orochimaru was positioned right in front of him, also standing in the hoop.

"I've been ready since five years ago." The avenger answered somewhat dully, his eyes void of any emotion.

"Very well, Sasuke-kun." The evil sannin's tongue appeared hungrily only to slide over his lips, wetting them while looking at the Uchiha as if he were some grande dessert, presented on a platter.

"... Any _last_ words...?"

Sasuke looked up. "I've already told you everything you needed to hear."

Orochimaru chuckled.

"_Oh_, about _that_... don't you worry a bit, Sasuke-kun. I _will_ kill Itachi-kun with the greatest pleasure."

"_Aa_."

"Kabuto! Start using the seals."

"As you command, Orochimaru-sama."

* * *

"How foolish of you... my silly, _little_ brother." 

To be frank, he'd never thought that the stupidity of his brother would ever reach up to the point of _literally_ thoughtlessly throwing his body away.

He sighed softly and reconsidered his plan for the thousandths time.

Was Sasuke, or would he ever be , actually able to beat _him_?

As he was observing the boy, while he was about to commit suicide in order to kill him, he knew he already had his answer.

The way it was looking, his otouto(1)'d be never able to kiss his feet , let alone kill him.

The thought alone was ridiculous on an entire new level, and if he were a humorous person he'd laugh at the mere idea.

_How utterly pathetic... _

He sighed once again and decided to give his brother a bit of a push into the right direction, since he wasn't able to by himself.

_Even after all these years I still have to look after him... What a pain... _

* * *

In the middle of performing the seals, Kabuto felt a sudden powerful presence nearing... 

"Just go on!" Orochimaru hissed, also aware of someone coming.

Sasuke frowned.

_What if it is the dobe? Or Sakura? Damn it! Won't those idiots just ever stop bothering me? Perhaps I should have killed them when I still had the chance. _

The younger Uchiha suddenly fell on his knees. Kabuto was already halfway through the seals, which meant he should start losing the grip onto his body.

Just when the medic-nin was about to finish the last seal a couple of kunai were thrown at his vital points. He easily deflected them, but stopped with the progress of the replacement jutsu in order to do so.

He threw a few poisoned needles at the centre of his trouble and heard the sound of some clashing afterwards. Whoever it was, he or she had probably deflected all of them.

Damn it!

With Orochimaru-sama and the Uchiha-brat half-way in trance, he was the only one who could take on an upcoming attack. The guarding-army they had positioned at the entrances of the forest had to be defeated, otherwise the person wouldn't have been able to get here. In other words: whoever this person was, he was powerful enough to beat an entire army of well-trained sound-nin. And frankly, he didn't know if he could handle such a person when his chakra was about to be drained by the replacement jutsu.

"Leave or die."

"Huh?"

He turned around at hearing some rustling and made the biggest mistake he could ever make...-

... he locked eyes with _Uchiha Itachi_...

"**Tsukiyomi**.(2)"

_Shit! _Kabuto cursed mentally.

"You will be tortured until death for 3 entire days." Itachi stated softly, his voice void from any emotion.

Yakushi Kabuto fell on his knees and cried out in agony...

...just after he finished the last seal for his master...

Itachi's eyes narrowed as he saw the seals and signs glow and lightning struck his little brother and the Sannin.

Was he too late?

_Never._

The moment he decided to act he heard two shinobi coming his way and disappeared behind the scene.

He eyed the two sound-nin who finally made their appearance.

_Hmmm.. _Hadn't he killed all of them?

It seemed he had not.

"Orochimaru-sama! Kabuto-sama!" One of them cried out exited.

_What a fool... _

He took the axe, he had taken from the previous encounter with the Sound army in his hand and aimed it right at the head of the loud-one.

Bull's eye.

One down. One to go.

He disdainfully observed the other one, a woman, he discovered.

She panicked and fell over that nosy-medic's body.

_Tsk. Tsk._

He had no time for these petty games.

He threw one of his kunai at her back and raised one perfect eyebrow as the woman screamed her head off.

_What an annoying volume..._

She finally stopped and lost her conciousness. He walked over to the circle and kicked her body away in the progress.

He put more chakra into his eyes and looked at the two bodies lying motionless on the ground.

Their souls were already halfway out of their bodies. There was _no_ way back, and even if there would be one, there wasn't enough time left.

It left him all but _one_ option.

Uchiha Itachi sighed for the third time and did the most foolish thing he could do:

He entered the circle.

* * *

Ino studied the person tied with strong chakra-strings onto one of her fancy chairs. 

He was still unconscious.

_Good._

That left her some time to think about what actually had happened.

She had so many questions, starting with:

Why the hell was he alive?

How in the world did he know where she lived and did he manage to come by undetected?

And the most important and irritating of all:

Why couldn't she enter his freakin' mind?

She had tried several time to enter his mind with her last bits of chakra .

But for the first time in her life, she found out she couldn't.

He had a kind of blockade, shutting his mind and thoughts off for any outsider.

She'd never seen something like it in her entire life.

She put her face into her hands and held back a scream of frustration.

Should she message her superiors and let them take care of the entire mess?

She probably should. It was even considered illegal to hold back information.

And she highly doubted that holding a very dangerous missing-nin captive in one's house would be considered'legal'.

However, she knew that the moment she'd give him away, she would never be able to get some answers of her own.

_Heck_, they wouldn't even let her see him.

She pushed her head up and stood up, conversing with herself.

"Hmm.. Okay! I know! I'll just beat some answers out of the bastard first, and send him to Morino-soushou afterwards. I mean.. they don't even know when I found the guy, so they won't suspect anything."

She nodded as she undid her knot unconsciously, her short hair swinging along with every movement she made.

Suddenly she stopped with her tracks.

"But then again... what if he tells them I've interrogated him before they did? _That_ certainly would be a pain in my _fine_ ass. Damn!"

She started pacing again.

"Hmm.. But for God's sake! He's a traitor! A missing-nin! Who would believe him? I mean, when people could choose, surely they'd choose_ the _Morino Ibiki's apprentice over an Uchiha traitor, _right_?"

She huffed incredulously and put her hands on her hips.

"Hah! Of course they would!"

"Are you already done, kunoichi? Your voice is _very_ disturbing for someone in my condition."

Her jaw tensed and she slowly turned around, careful not to look Sasuke in the eyes.

"My, my... Sasuke-_kun_," She responded, clear venom evidence in her harsh tone. "What happened to my first name? Since when did my parents name me 'kunoichi'? Or have you forgotten it the day you became a traitor."

To her utmost amazement, he just chuckled.

"I can see why _he_'s so much fond of you. You don't seem like the average-type."

She couldn't help but to frown.

"Who the hell is _he_? And _why_ don't you fucking talk clearly to me!"

"Now, now, if you are _really_ who you claim to be, you should watch your temper. I know it's been a long time since I visited Konoha, but somehow I think that Morino-san wouldn't take such an amateur as his apprentice even after all these years."

Her eyes narrowed. Who the hell was this, and what had he done to Sasuke?

Could it be... _Orochimaru_?

Her body tensed. She had to look him into the eyes.

**Baria-Seishin no Jutsu **, she cried out mentally, creating a barrier to defend her mind.

_Now or never... _

She slowly looked up and met two crimson orbs.

His eyes were... different...

More powerful, somehow... _more _red adorning them.

That moment, she knew that this really _wasn't_ Sasuke. Call it her guts..

And as a shinobi, she was taught to always act on her instincts.

"Who are you?"

**!TO BE CONTINUED!**

_

* * *

_

_(1)Otouto: Little, younger brother_

_(2)Tsukiyomi: a.k.a: grasping moon: An ultimate Uchiha technique which is only available to members of the Uchiha clan with the Mangekyou Sharingan. Basically it means that it's a badass technique in which Tachi-kun takes ya to his head and messes with ya till you (almost) die. At least that's my own definition.. For more information, just surf the web, I'm feelin' a bit lazy today.. -.-' _

**

* * *

**

**A/N: ****Pheew... another chap done.. although it doesn't look the way I wanted it to.. but I still kinda promised to update at least once a weekend, so here I am... ;))**

**Also wanted to thank ya guys again for all those kick-ass reviews! It certainly does feel better to write stuff that people actually want to read. Helps with the motivation. Ya see ;))**

**Anywayz.. thanx for botherin' to read and please lemme know what cha think!**

**Boobaiz!**

_MisSs005 _


	6. Alti

**ççççÖÖÖçççç/ Face down \ççççÖÖÖçççç**

* * *

**_Summary: Ino always prepared herself for the worst situations,but finding SASUKE in her yard definitely caught her off guard. Especially when she just found out he was supposed to be dead,along with the Snake freak. Why is HE here,and what has Itachi to do with it?_ **

* * *

"Normal.**"**

_Thoughts_

**_Flashbacks_ **

" _Inner persona " _

**Jutsu**

* * *

"_Who are you?" _

Neither spoke.

They just observed, their eyes not wavering for even one second.

She frowned. _It couldn't be Orochimaru, could it? The Snake definitely has a different aura, which feels more destructive and chaotic. This aura isn't anything like that. It's powerful, but calm and well- coordinated at the same time. Then again, he may have fused with Sasuke's own aura. But no.. that can't be, since I can swear the moment I found him, it really was Sasuke. Which leads to... could it possibly be... No way!_

She cleared her throat before she spoke again.

"Look, I know that Sasuke's still alive and in his body. But what I'd like to find out is _who_ you are, _why_ you are in his body as well and _where_ your _own _body is. And let me tell you slowly and _clearly_, you can either coöperate with me and I'll play _nice_-ninja on you, or you can make this more difficult for yourself , not to mention _more_ stress- and painful. But either way, I _am_ going to _make_ you answer those three questions. _Understood?_"

'Sasuke' looked amused for a second before he responded.

"Hmm.. I think that I can see now why Morino-san chose you as his apprentice. I guess it's an interesting combination with your own Yamanaka abilites, isn't that right?" He said as if it was more like a statement than a question.

_Wait a sec.. how does he know my name.. _

The man in front of her chuckled lightly.

"For a second you seemed honestly surprised, _Yamanaka Ino_. Don't tell me you possibly thought I wouldn't be able to know such a petty thing as your name, when I came all the way to your home."

She cursed herself mentally for making such a stupid mistake.. _Arghh! That..- that...-_

She composed herself soon enough, though.

"Very well then, I guess this means we have to do this the hard way..." She bluffed, knowing damn well that she was near chakra-depletion.

_I guess it's now or never... : **Buro Seishin no Jutsu** !!!_

With the lasts bits of chakra, she attacked him with raw mind-energy.

For a moment his eyes widened and he grimaced.

"So... _big boy_, do you wanna reconsider your choice? Or can I have some more fun with torturing the hell out of you?"

' Sasuke ' raised his black eyebrow. "You don't think a low-chakra attack such as the one you did, had any effect one me, now did you? If so, that'd be a clear insult to my abilities."

_What the fuck?_

With that amount of energy she put in the attack, even _Shikamaru_ wouldn't be able to talk for a few seconds.

Which meant this guy was really, really powerful: both physically _and _mentally.

She smiled wickedly, covering her distraught.

"Oh, _no_... this is only the _beginning_, smart-ass. Don't you worry _one _bit!" She challenged him.

_Shit! What now? Perhaps I really should contact the others..- WHAT THE HECK!_

The moment she looked away for a second, he disposed the chakra-strings he'd taken care of ages ago and flashed in front of her.

Before Ino could even register what was happening, she was grabbed by her arms and pushed against the cold wall behind her back. From out of nowhere his warm kunai appeared, kissing her neck, as his hot breath caressed her face.

_Shit! _Was the only thought she came up with. _How the fuck did I manage to screw up this much? _

"So, what are you gonna do now? Kill me?" She mocked her voice a tad breathless.

He smirked, gliding the kunai over her throat, up to her cheek and finally to the bang covering her eye. With a quick motion he pushed the bang behind her ear with his weapon, teasing her.

"If I'd _wanted_ to kill you, you'd already be dead _over and over again_."

"Then why the hell are you toying with me?" She hissed, anger boiling behind those cool orbs.

"Because," He answered while leaning in, only leaving an inch between their faces. " I happen to be fond of fooling around with my_ little, foolish brother_..."

Ino's eyes widened. _What the..-!_

This person... this man... could it be...?

_Uchiha Itachi?!_

* * *

Itachi observed the young woman pressed against him.

He had to give his little brother credit, this kunoichi was beautiful indeed.

It didn't struck as a big shock to him why Sasuke felt attracted to her.

She possessed a fire, a passion. Her cold-blue eyes blazed with determination. Even in this dangerous position, she showed no fear. He could feel her heart beating_ faster _and_ faster._

She was a feisty one.

_I guess our choice of women isn't really that much different, little brother of mine. _

" _Don't you dare to touch her!" _A voice in the mass-murderer's head shouted angrily.

Itachi chuckled mentally.

_Now, now... Sasuke... I thought you said she wasn't of any importance a few seconds ago. Pray tell what changed your mind so suddenly. _

His little brother didn't respond for a while.

" _She isn't of any importance at all... you fucking bastard...! I already told you she could be useful for me..- " _

_For us.. _Itachi interrupted and corrected his brother in a bored tone.

"_For... US...!" _Sasuke spit out, when Itachi dangerously caressed Yamanaka Ino with a kunai.

"_WE can use her to separate our souls and to get you to your own fucking head!" _He continued, an enormous killer's intent radiating out of him.

_Hn.. Perhaps.. _

* * *

"Uchiha... _Itachi_...?" Ino hissed incredulously, as she came to a sudden revelation.

Of _all_ damn people Sasuke was sharing his body with genius, mass-murderer a.k.a. big brother _Uchiha Itachi_?

If this were a joke she would laugh her ass off at the irony of it.

But the thing was, it _wasn't _a joke. This was _real_.

Real as in; Sasuke and the _murderer_ of his clan, the one he wanted to avenge with _every_ being of himself... in _one_ body...

For a second Ino allowed herself to think how Sasuke would react to this.

'Cause if it were vice-versa, she'd already have committed suicide or something.

Her eyes locked with Itachi and he slowly removed the kunai from her hot skin.

"Someone is coming." He stated softly before he finally left.

And with that, Sasuke's body dropped on its knees.

Ino immediately took advantage of this and focused literally her last drops of chakra into her mind.

Itachi had been right after all, someone _was_ actually coming.

She couldn't believe her luck when she recognised the entirely familiar aura.

_Neji!_

"T-that fucking asshole."

The blonde opened her eyes at hearing some colorful vocabulary groaned out in pure hatred.

She reached her mind out at the source of it and found out this time it really was _Sasuke_.

The younger Uchiha slowly got back on his feet, staggering dangerously.

"_How utterly pathetic, can't you even get hold of your own body?" _

_Shut the hell up! _Sasuke sneered back, finally regaining his control.

"_Don't make me tell you to mind your language again, Sasuke. Because this will be the last time."_

Itachi warned him, before masking his presence altogether.

"Yamanaka." Sasuke turned to face Ino, looking straight into her eyes, trying to intimidate her.

Her throat went dry and she tried hard not to back away.

These were the facts.

Weapons? _None. _

Chakra? _None._

Stamina? _None._

A S-ranked missing-nin who made her heart beat a little faster than normal? _Check! _

_Shit! _She was in deep trouble indeed.

Sasuke flashed behind her.

She could escape from his first attempt of retaining her, but with the second move he managed to hold her in a firm grip.

Damn it! His tajjutsu was far better than hers, since she mostly focused on her mental state than her physical one.

_Neji where the hell are you! _

She hated to admit it, but she really could use some help.

"I wouldn't try to do something funny, if I were you." He whispered mockingly into her right, _sensitive _ear, making her almost jump.

"You fucking piece of shit!" She hissed as his grip turned stronger and harsher.

"**Inbijiburu no Jutsu.**(1)**" **Sasuke said softly, calling up for an invisibility shield to surround them.

"Shhh.." He whispered again as she struggled some more.

"Like hell!"

He sighed, sounding tired and amused at the same time.

"You really haven't changed a bit, you know?"

Before she could confront him with a sarcastic response of her own, he made sure she wouldn't be able to.

"**Ko-ru no Shinkan no Jutsu**.(2)"

Ino froze. No matter how much she opened her mouth and screamed , no sound came out.

For someone like her, who took great comfort of verbally assaults, it was horrible.

Sasuke chuckled lightly at feeling her discomfort and slowly led her to the corner of the room.

Right at that moment someone entered the house.

"Yamanaka..."

Ino's eyes widened as she saw Neji enter in his Anbu-outfit with mask and all.

_Finally!_

* * *

Hyuuga Neji knew something was wrong right from the start.

Usually Ino would already have opened the door at feeling his aura, but this time she didn't though. So he had to go through her flowers to get the spare key.

The living room looked... different...

A knocked over chair was put in the center he observed. And he could see strings loosely attached on it.

Hyuuga Neji wasn't stupid.

He could already figure out Ino had a captive and her captive had somehow managed to escape from the strings, which he discovered were previously chakra strings.

His pearly orbs narrowed from behind the mask.

_**Byakugan!**_

He looked across the room and let his gaze linger on the corner for a second.

_Aa... I already thought so. _

His jaw tensed as he turned around.

"Hn... I should report her disappearance."

With that he opened the door and_ left._

Leaving Yamanaka Ino vulnerable in the clutches of both of the Uchiha siblings.

**!TO BE CONTINUED!**

* * *

_(1) Inbijiburu no Jutsu: Invisibility Technique_

_(2) Ko-ru no Shinkan no Jutsu: Call of Silence Technique_

_I'll totally understand if ya guys hate these weird-ass techniques I make up because I'm way too lazy to find some real ones. .'_

**

* * *

**

**(A/N): Pfft.. another chappie done! Yeah, yeah... I know.. this took me twice as long and even though it took longer it still looks like shit. Sigh. I dunno why, but I wasn't really in the mood for writin' anything these past days. I'm just so damn busy with daily stuff... Anywayz.. I still hope you somehow enjoyed the interaction between the Uchiha boys and our kick -ass Yamanaka girl! Oh.. and btw: it's like VEEEERY late, and somethin' past midnight and it feels as if my eyes could pop out of their sockets any minute now, so beware of even more bad grammar and spelling mistakes than normal! **

**Thanx for botherin' to read and please lemme know what cha think!**

**Take care...**

_MisSs005_


	7. Yedi

**ççççÖÖÖçççç/ Face down \ççççÖÖÖçççç

* * *

**

**_Summary: Ino always prepared herself for the worst situations,but finding SASUKE in her yard definitely caught her off guard. Especially when she just found out he was supposed to be dead,along with the Snake freak. Why is HE here,and what has Itachi to do with it?_

* * *

**

"Normal."

_Thoughts_

**_Flashbacks_ **

" _Inner persona " _

**Jutsu

* * *

**

_Previous chapter: Ino finds out the Uchiha brothers are sharing one body after keeping Sasuke as a hostage. When our favourite Yamanaka thinks she'll finally get saved by the one and only Hyuuga Neji, he turns his back on her and leaves without even so much as noticing her. Now she's left alone, literally cornered by the person who has never left her mind after all these years...

* * *

_

_What the heck?! _Ino screamed mentally and after a few minutes Sasuke released the invisibility technique.

He flipped her around and pushed her against the very same wall his brother had.

_Har- freakin'- har. Somehow this looks awfully familiar. _She thought sarcastically.

"I believe we have something to discuss. But then again, it's more like_ I _have something to discuss while you _will_ stay put and listen and obey." He stated dangerously, lifting her chin up.

She looked up, clear rebellion evident in her blue orbs, challenging him.

His grip on her chin tightened in return and he leaned closer.

_Nobody messes with the Yamanaka Ino, especially not YOU, you asshole! _She scolded him mentally, before she spit on that arrogant face of his.

His eyes narrowed , turned red and in one fluid movement his katana appeared from out of nowhere and was embedded right next to her temple in the wall.

"_Now_. Let me make you clear this is a _very_ bad time to test my _patience, _Yamanaka. Don't make me do things we both might regret later on." Sasuke hissed between gritted teeth.

He trusted the katana deeper into the wall, his eyes not wavering away from hers for even one moment.

Ino couldn't help but to flinch.

* * *

Hyuuga Neji was generally known as one of the most patient persons ever alive. 

He did have full practise and experience in the term, though.

Who wouldn't have when teamed up in a team with Rock Lee as teammate and Maito Gai as sensei?

Neji was an excellent ninja and he proudly considered himself to be a genius of patience as well.

But never had his patience been tested as it had been today.

He had to refrain his every being in order to operate logical, and never had he have this much trouble before with controlling himself.

This fact also forced him to admit a few things he wouldn't have preferred to.

_...Yamanaka Ino_...

What _exactly_ was she to him?

A _colleague_ with whom he worked from time to time?

A _loudmouth_ who sometimes pestered him and sometimes amused him?

Someone he trusted his life to...

Could he call her a _friend_?

**No**, he _couldn't_.

The moment he discovered her cornered and vulnerable, he knew he got his answer.

He had to _literally_ force himself from rushing over and rip the bastard's throat out, _Jyuuken-ing_ his guts inside-out.

_Hyuuga_ Neji was blessed with the _Byakugan_, his family trait.

This meant he could see particular things.

This also meant he could recognise different individual's chakra signatures...

"_Uchiha_." He growled in an un-humanly voice.

_Ohh_... what he wouldn't do for the chance to go back and immediately kill his traitor-guts.. -

But as an elite-ANBU, _unfortunately_, he knew better.

These were the facts:

He had caught an injury on his previous solo mission, so he couldn't give his all in a fight.

He also didn't know anything about the Uchiha's capacity anymore.

No matter how much he hated to admit it, the man had been trained by one of the three Sannin. And don't forget to mention, he didn't know how much progress he'd made with the ways of the Sharingan.

If it would've been someone else, his pride would've won and he would've taken the risk.

However, this was concerning Ino...

He couldn't simply afford the risk to screw up.

Neji gritted his teeth as he went to recruit fellow Anbu.

For the first time in his life he was ready to admit that perhaps he wasn't a genius in all matters after all.

* * *

Ino just couldn't believe it. 

Everything was happening so fast... it was all so non-realistic.

Like a dream, or no, more like a never ending nightmare.

What the heck had she put herself into?

Just a few hours back she'd believed that Uchiha Sasuke was dead.

Dead as in _not here_, finished, _in hell,_ done for...

So _what _in the world was he doing here?

_Why_ was he alive?

_Why_ was he sharing his body with the soul of his fucking brother?

_Why_ did he have to choose _her_ of all damn people to appear to?

_Why_ did he still make her heart beat faster?

Why, how, what, when and **_WHY_**?

But what she really, really wanted to know was...

"Where the hell are you taking me to?"

Yes. She could talk again.

Somehow he had dismissed the jutsu somewhere along the line.

And _again,_ he didn't respond.

"I'm talking to you, _Uchiha_!" She snarled, her eyes narrowing.

He sighed irritated.

"Don't make me regret dismissing the jutsu."

"..."

_That_ made her shut up...

-... for a good entire two seconds..

Suddenly her eyes widened in recognition.

"Wait a sec..- Isn't that..."

Sasuke's hold tightened as they walked towards the old _Uchiha_ Residence.

After all these years of un-occupation the complex looked derelict and eerie.

An involuntarily shiver went down Ino's spine.

As a mind-walker she could feel auras, emotions and intentions strongly.

This place made her feel heavy and tired. There was just too much sorrow and disappointment hanging in the air, surrounding the buildings and nature. It was slowly suffocating her.

Despite its state of bad repair the complex, however, still possessed a great deal of authority and mystery.

_That's what I call the DUC, Damn Uchiha Charm, something I invented a long, long time ago... _

She sighed, partly because of the feeling of nostalgia and partly just because this place was wearing her out.

"We're here...-" Sasuke stated softly, stopping in front of a small building.

Ino remembered the small house adorned with strong wood...-

...-it was Sasuke's .

She wondered how many times she'd come over here when she was little. A dozen maybe?

She wondered if Sasuke remembered.

_No.. he probably doesn't even care._

He slowly pushed the door open, first pulling her in before he entered himself.

It was dark and damp inside. The walls were covered with mold, causing distasteful smells to arise.

She eyed Sasuke's form as he finally made his way to his old room. She noticed his hand hesitated for a second before opening the door and entering.

_I guess some things stay hard no matter how much time passes. _

"**Kuchiyose no Jutsu.**" He summoned a python.

"I trust her to you. Keep an eye on her."

The snake hissed and crawled her way to the unfortunate Yamanaka.

Ino's breath stitched in her throat.

Being someone who had experience with fetching flowers,she had a lot of encounters with creatures such as snakes while making her way through earthy or grassy environments. Because of this she didn't immediately freak out at seeing the huge creature crawling her way.

It was beautiful,_ but_ dangerous as hell.

The python finally reached her feet and started to climb it up slowly, circling her waist.

Her breathing quickened.

The fact she was accustomed to snaked _didn't_ mean she _wasn't_ afraid of a python strangling her to death.

_Okay now, don't panic.. If he would've wanted you dead, he would've already killed you. _

Sasuke turned around to complete his task.

_Three steps to the right, one forward, the fifth flagstone on the ground... _

He grabbed a kunai, got on his knees and carved the outlines of the fifth flagstone.

The old piece of wood was easily destroyed by the sharpness of the weapon and he got rid of it soon.

_It's here..._

He carefully grasped the retrieven object and opened the strong fabric surrounding it.

It was a katana. The one that belonged to his ancestor. _Uchiha Madara._

_Finally..._

He motioned for Ino, still captivated by the python, to follow him outside.

Suddenly his jaw tensed and in a quick motion he reappeared next to Ino ,the katana firmly held in his right hand. The wheels of the Sharingan in his orbs were dancing dangerously.

They were surrounded.

Ino's eyes lit up in hope.

Could it be...

_Neji??_

Ino smiled gratefully as a squad full of familiar masks appeared in front of her.

"Sasuke-_teme..." Uzumaki Naruto_

"Well, if it ain't the traitor-Uchiha..." _Inuzuka Kiba_

"Don't you worry a bit, Ino-san! Our flames of youth will protect you!" _Rock-Lee_

"_Uchiha_... touch her, and you _die._." _Hyuuga Neji_

Sasuke being Sasuke; smirked arrogantly.

"Konoha no Anbu, eh..."

He hissed something, making the python wrap tighter around Ino.

The blonde winced in pain and Neji fisted his hands in balls.

"_Sasuke."_

_Itachi?_

"_Surrender."_

_WHAT!? No way in hell! I can take them..._

"_I said surrender. Don't make me repeat myself."_

_I don't give a shit about what you think...-_

Itachi sighed.

"_Fine. You don't leave me a choice."_

Suddenly a somehow familiar pain shot through Sasuke, making him clutch his head in agony and fall on his knees. The python around Ino disappeared into a cloud of dust and Neji caught her before she could fall.

"Ino.. What's happening?"

She smiled wearily before answering the Hyuuga.

"Neji... it's... _Itachi._.."

His eyes widened behind the mask. _What!_

'Itachi' finally regained control over the body and got on his feet. He turned to the squat.

"I surrender."

**!TO BE CONTINUED!**

**

* * *

**

**A/N: OMG! It's aliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive! ' Gheh.. sorry guys, it took me very, VEEERY long. But I swear, this time I really DO have a VALID reason. Like two weeks ago I got a light concussion at school while participatin' in PE. We had to do some crazy shizz', and before startin' I said to the teacher that if he made me do it, I'd break my neck or somethin'... Well.. let's say he didn't believe me, and a few minutes later... VOILA! Someone literally FELL on my head and gave it a few good kicks along the way... :X ...Sigh...- Anywayz.. Fortunately I'm startin' to feel a bit better, so I hope I can start updatin'regularly again.. So if the chap sucks more than usual... it may be because my brain feels like exlodin' everytime I look at a computer... :(**

**Thanx for botherin' to read and please lemme know what cha think... **

**love y'all.. **

_MisSs005_


	8. Sekiz

**ççççÖÖÖçççç/ Face down \ççççÖÖÖçççç**

* * *

**_Summary: Ino always prepared herself for the worst situations,but finding SASUKE in her yard definitely caught her off guard.Especially when she just found out he was supposed to be dead,along with the Snake freak.Why is HE here,and what has Itachi to do with it?_ **

* * *

"**Normal."**

_Thoughts_

**_Flashbacks_ **

**Jutsu**

* * *

Itachi sighed.

He was starting to get bored. And for someone like him becoming that, meant some serious trouble.

He had been put in a high-security cell by the four Anbu (voluntarily of course).

Pathetic really, they actually thought all the seals and guards could keep him there?

_Tsch_.. If he wanted he could get out of here without even blinking an eye.

He closed his eyes for a second.

He was almost regretting his plan...

The regret didn't last for long, though. Uchiha Itachi wasn't the kind of man who regretted things. Generally _he_ was the one making _other_ people regret, _the hard way_.

"Uchiha Sasuke, or is it Uchiha _Itachi_..."

Itachi merely raised one eyebrow as acknowledgement at seeing the person who'd entered.

Morino Ibiki observed the man in the cell in front of him.

"What brings you here, traitor? Or no, should I say, ... _traitors_..."

"Bring your Godaime to me."

Morino chuckled sadistically.

"And what makes you think you're in any position of demanding anything?"

Itachi disabled the chakra strings and seals, which where tying him down the chair in the matter of a second.

They were starting to get displeasing.

Morino Ibiki narrowed his eyes.

"Bring the Godaime." The Uchiha-murderer calmly repeated once again.

The head of the Interrogation Apartment gritted his teeth and turned around to leave.

He knew damn well of what Uchiha Itachi was capable of.

But Uchiha Itachi _and_ Uchiha Sasuke in one body... It just couldn't possibly be any good outcome.

"Morino." He tensed and stopped.

"You have chosen yourself a capable apprentice. After a few years... She might even surpass the legendary_ you_."

Morino shut the door behind him and was on his way to the Hokage.

He couldn't help but to be worried.

For the likes of the Uchiha-brothers to be interested in his apprentice...

It couldn't be anything good.

* * *

Yamanaka Ino was in for some real trouble.

She was surrounded by angry over-worried friends and was currently facing a _very _furious Godaime who wanted answers.. _NOW_..!

Ino tried hard to stand tall in the midst of the tension. And the fact she was very close to chakra depletion didn't exactly help.

"Yamanaka Ino, you have a _lot _of explaining to do. But first off all, pray tell, what _Uchiha Sasuke_ was doing in _your_ house. And I'm not even sure if I want to start about the _torn chakra-strings_... "

The blonde tried hard not to wince, which was really difficult to do so with the Godaime's eyes boring from the front, and the Hyuuga's glare boring from behind.

"Hai. I- I was walking home after the fight and the interrogation, when I saw someone lying on my front lawn."

"Well.." The Godaime motioned for her to continue.

"At first I thought it was a fool who had one drink too much, but then the smell of blood hit me. I immediately rushed over in case the person was hurt badly. And when I flipped him over...-"

The Hokage nodded. "Why didn't you report as you were ought to do?" She asked, her voice cold and with disapproval evident in her amber eyes.

"Because I wanted to get some answers..." Ino softly answered.

"I- I had recently discovered about his death...-"

"Ino...-" The Godaime's eyes softened a bit. She knew how twisted the Sound-nin could be. That's why she decided not to take Ino's interrogation seriously. It was probably a plot of Orochimaru to make them fool into thinking he was dead.

"No, please.." Ino interrupted her. Knowing what her leader probably was thinking

"I know what I saw. And I can swear on my life and family honor as a shinobi that it was _real_. I'm not one hundred percent sure of why Uchiha Sasuke is still alive and shares his body with his brother, but I have a few assumptions. That's why I took him in. I wanted to have a few answers of my own, before he would be taken away from me and I would never have the chance to ask those questions again."

Her blue eyes pleaded the Godaime's to understand.

"And that was when I discovered he shared his body with someone. His aura was different. At first I thought it was Orochimaru. But that assumption felt wrong. I have encountered the Snake Sannin on a few occasions and with both of them his aura felt destructive and chaotic. The aura I felt this time, though, was calm and well-coordinated. And after, well, having talked to him, I verified it truly was Itachi."

The Godaime sighed, studying her polished nails.

"The Uchiha brothers in one body... What a mess."

Exactly in that instance Morino Ibiki walked inside, his features predicting nothing good.

His eyes locked with Ino's for a second, but then he averted his glare to their leader.

"Godaime-sama, I need to talk to you...-"

"...- _Privately_.." He finished gliding his eyes over the Anbu and his apprentice.

"Very well." She answered grimly.

"You may take your leave." She motioned to the others.

"And oh, Yamanaka Ino.."

The blonde tensed.

"Yes, Godaime-sama?"

"Don't think we're finished. We still have a lot of _catching up_ to do."

"Hai!"

With that she closed the door behind her, just to face a furious Hyuuga Neji who appeared as if he also wanted a couple of answers himself...

"No. Don't even try to say a word." She stopped him before he could start speaking.

His jaw tensed as she massaged her temple.

"Ino-chan! What did Sasuke..-"

"Na-ru-to..."She gritted through her teeth. "Not _now_."

She pushed her way through them and started wobbling.

Damn... she was at her limit.

She'd used too much chakra and the tension was finally getting to her.

_Gotta go home... _

She wobbled her way into someone's broad chest...

"_Ughh_!"

"You're such a stubborn bitch sometimes, y 'know." She heard a deep, raw, familiar voice tell her.

"Shaddup .. K-Kiba" Was the last thing she said, before she lost her conscious.

* * *

"So, Ibiki.. You mind telling me why you're here?" Tsunade more ordered than asked the man in front of her.

"Hai, Hokage-sama. The S-rated criminal, Uchiha , demands an audience with you." Morino Ibiki answered short and clear as always.

"I should' ve seen this one coming." She said closing her eyes while tapping on her desk with her freshly manicured nails.

_What a pain... I knew capturing the Uchiha without any resist would be too good to be true. _

"Hmm... You may take him here."

"But Hokage-sama..-!"

"No buts, Morino. As much as I'd not like to admit; if he'd wanted to escape, he would've already done so. He probably wants something... And I'm planning on finding out."

"As you wish, Hokage-sama."

"You may leave."

"Hai!"

Tsunade rested her chin on her hands as Morino Ibiki left her office.

Even back in the time of the foundation of Konoha, Uchiha were known as very hard-to-please type of people.

She could almost imagine her own grandfather in front of her with his arms leaning on the desk: "Give 'em more, the bastards want more. Give 'em everything, and the bastards still bitch. But give them nothing... the bastards sharingan your ass!"

The Godaime chuckled softly at remembering the somewhat familiar quote her grandfather, the first Hokage, just loved to use whenever he was dealing with Uchiha members.

_Unfortunately I think I'm about to understand that statement very soon. But still it's not fair, granmps... You had to deal with the ordinary kind of Uchiha, while I have to deal with the disturbed, mass-murderer, traitor-kind. _

With that last thought she brought another bottle of hidden sake out from under her desk and took a great draught.

* * *

"Godaime-sama, the Uchiha-traitor.."

"Let him in." Tsunade motioned the Anbu.

A few seconds later Uchiha Sasuke appeared. She took his outfit in, or more like what was left of it anyway.

Her jaw tensed.

He reminded her too much of Orochimaru

_That bastard. He made just another copy of himself..._

"Hokage." Uchiha Itachi said without any respect for authority.

"Uchiha." Tsunade nodded in acknowledgement.

"I have a proposition to make." The missin'-nin immediately said, cutting right through the case.

The Godaime raised her eyebrow, thinking: ..._The nerve of this guy..._

"And what makes you think I would bargain with a traitor of my own country, who is also ranked as a criminal?" She asked, not even trying to hide the evident ridicule in her voice.

"Because," Itachi simply replied, " This 'criminal' can guaranty you the complete extinction of the Sound and...-."

Tsunade interrupted him with a snort.

"Why do you think Konoha wouldn't be able to handle the matter on its own?"

"Your country hasn't even recovered yet from the invasion, while Sound is more than ready to attack yet again." He stated without blinking an eye. "And..-"

She straightened her back, looking him straight into his eyes.

"And what?" She interrupted him the second time.

"And my second offering is that I will stop chasing the Kyuubi."

Tsunade's eyes widened for a second and then narrowed.

"What is the catch and how can I be sure you will keep your part of the deal?"

"I want to recollect my inheritance and one of your subordinates to assist me on a journey with conditions of _my own_. If you agree, we will seal it with the Unbreakable Vow."

"I see." _The Unbreakable Vow, eh... One of the Secret Family Seals of the Uchiha. I haven't heard about it for a long time now. Probably because that brat in front of me killed his entire family off... But wait a minute..-!_

"And pray tell," Tsunade continued, already having guessed the answer , "whom of mine subordinates you're planning on taking with you?"

Uchiha Itachi shrugged and allowed a little smirk to appear on his little brother's face.

"_Yamanaka Ino."_

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED!!

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for being late! After the concussion I was too busy trying to catch up a lot of lost work from school. Anywayz, I seriously had lots of struggle with writing this chap, because I didn't feel like writing at all. But all in all, I hope my efforts were worth it and that y'all liked it, even a lil' bit. **

**Hmm.. I'ma gonna sleep right now.. it's 1 A.M... ;))**

**Thanx for botherin' to read and please lemme know what cha think!**

**Boobaiz!**

_MisSs005_


	9. Dokuz

**ççççÖÖÖçççç/ Face down \ççççÖÖÖçççç**

* * *

**_Summary: Ino always prepared herself for the worst situations,but finding SASUKE in her yard definitely caught her off guard. Especially when she just found out he was supposed to be dead,along with the Snake freak. Why is HE here,and what has Itachi to do with it?_ **

* * *

"**Normal."**

_Thoughts_

**_Flashbacks_ **

**Jutsu**

* * *

**A/N: First off... before you're gonna start readin'; **

**Yes.. you _may_ kick my ass all over and over again in your head for not updatin' any time sooner.**

**Yes.. Last time I _did_ go all Harry Potter on you.. (Damn it! Was the 'Unbreakable Vow' _that_ obvious? x) **

**No.. I can't assure you there is nothing wrong (grammatically and stuff') with this chap, since I still dun' have a beta.**

**And last but not least; Thanx for all your reviews and messages and support and kindness!!! I really couldn't have thought that so many of you would be interested in this lil' ol' fic of mine. **

**That's it for now... Ready, Set... _READ_!!**

* * *

Sleep.

It's claimed to be a miracle by many.

When you sleep, you die, only to be resurrected yet once again.

Your body stays intact, however, your soul cuts the connection in between. It selfishly flies away for a voyage through the universe of your own subconsciousness.

You're confronted by your greatest fears, desires,hopes, discoveries and by thoughts and memories so crushing you normally wouldn't even dare to think about them.

Emotions beyond description, aches too hard to endure.

We call this remarkable concept _dreaming_.

Sometimes your dreams are warnings, unconsciously formed by your own subconscious, sometimes your dreams serve as a garbage can, something in which your mind can throw out the overload of information it's daily receiving, or they can symbol signs of disease, fortune or many other things.

But _sometimes_... they can also be a fight against_ your _very own endogenous-turmoil.

Somewhere, in one of the greatest shinobi villages, a young woman seemed to be experiencing the latter, fighting against her greatest inner-demon; her _memories._

Her breaths were harsh and irregular,the sheets twisted in different directions by her constantly moving.

Two platinum blonde brows were knitted together and beads of sweat were running down her pale , delicate face drawn together with agitation.

* * *

"_**W**_**aaaaaaa**_**h! S-Sasuke-kun is sooooo mean! W**_**aaaaaaaa**_**h!" **_

"_**H-Hey, I d-didn't mean to, really! S-Sorry!" **_

"_**So... Friends?"**_

"_**Um! Friends!" **_

* * *

****

"_**I-Ino-chan looks happy, why?"**_

"_**Ehh?? What are you talking about Sa-ku-ra-ch**_**aaa****_n!"_**

* * *

****

"_**...Isn't he cute or what!"**_

"_**Who?"**_

"_**Sasuke-kun, of course!" **_

* * *

****

"_**...Ino from now on we're rivals..."**_

"_**Fine!"**_

"_**Fine!"**_

* * *

****

"_**Here, you dropped a flower."**_

"_**S-Sasuke-kun!"**_

"_**Hn."**_

* * *

****

"_**You PIG! Get OFF him! You're bothering Sasuke-kun!"**_

"_**Heehee... Jealous, forehead-girl?"**_

"_**...You wish!.."**_

* * *

****

"_**Sasuke-kun! Sasuke! Matte!(1)"**_

**_

* * *

_**

"_**Why are you looking for someone who seized to exist?"**_

"_**Why do you let me glomp you?"**_

_**...Silence...**_

"_**Heh. That's why." **_

* * *

****

"_**Yo! Shikamaru! Get off your lazy-butt and gimme some help with..-"**_

"_**Ino.."**_

"_**-.. rearranging the flowe-"**_

"_**Ino, I'm leaving together with Chouji."**_

"_**WHAT! How could you leave without m-"**_

"_**Ino..."**_

"_**What.. what's wrong?"**_

"_**He left, Ino... **He left.** And we're ordered to get him back."**_

* * *

****

"_**SAAAASKEEE! I SWEAR THAT I, YAMANAKA INO, WILL MAKE YOU REGRET!"**_

* * *

****

"_**It's sad for her isn't it... Ino-san...? " **_

"_**Sad for who?"**_

"_**Sakura-chan of course! She really loved ...**_**him****_... You know.. maybe we could try cheering her up!"_**

**_"..."_**

"_**Ino-san! Chotto matte! (2) Where are you..- !"**_

"_**Ehh? What's gotten into HER? Really..."**_

"_**I dunno, did I say anything wrong?"**_

* * *

****

"_**Ino... - We.. we couldn't get him back."**_

"_**..." **_

"_**I-Ino, I..-"**_

"_**Chouji, w-we need to be strong for Chouji."**_

"_**Ino.. I'm sorry."**_

"_**Don't you worry Shika, it's not your fault. And together.. together we'll pull through..."**_

_We have to 'cause otherwise I'll..._

* * *

"_**Yamanaka."**_

"_**Huh?"**_

"_**Don't you dare coming any second later tomorrow!"**_

"_**Ehh! Morino-san, what are you..-"**_

"_**Don't gape at me like some fish and it's **_**Soushou****_ to you from now on."_**

"_**S-Soushou? But I'm already..-"**_

"_**You'll only throw your abilities away with practising medical jutsu. And I'm not gonna let that happen. Tomorrow 5 A.M. Not participating is **_**no****_ option, and that's an order!"_**

"_**H-Hai... **_**Soushou.****_.." _**

* * *

****

"_**Why don't you get over the fact you'll never gonna get him back again, Sakura?"**_

"_**I.. I can't because that would be betraying myself and everything I believe in."**_

"_**Everything you believe in, huh? And what would that be, miss Sunshine?"**_

"_**Bonds of friendship, loyalty and love, Ino."**_

"_**Yare, yare (3).. You're starting to sound like Naruto. That idiot's finally rubbing off on you."**_

**..Smile..**

"_**Perhaps.. What about you, Ino?"**_

"_**What about me?" **_

"_**Oh, come on.. You can't fool me into thinking you have forgotten all about him."**_

"_**Fool you? Hah.. Don't make me laugh. There are actually people among us, Sakura, who have far better things to spend their times on than persuading some traitor, who shot us all behind the back. Maybe you've forgotten and forgiven everything, but I will **_**never****_ forget the hours I spent on the IC for Chouji , not knowing he'd ever wake up or not, I _won't_ forget the bad state Neji was put in and I sure as hell will _never_ forgive the bastard for choosing Orochimaru above us all."_**

**..Sigh..**

"_**You still love him, don't you."**_

"_**I..I **_**hate****_ him." _**_Don't I?_

* * *

"_**Nara-san, Morino-soushou, Y-Yamanaka Ino reporting. Mission w-was a succes!**_

_**The S-Class c-criminal O-Orochimaru is found death a-along with the missin-nin **_**U-Uchiha S-Sasuke.****_"_**

* * *

****

"_**N-No.." **No,no,no,no,no,no,NO,NO,NOOO!_

"_**Aa... L-long time no see.. Ino." **_

_...Uchiha... Sasuke..._

* * *

Yamanaka Ino woke up with a terrified gasp and literally pushed her body up in less than a second. She put her hand on her fast pacing chest, trying to keep her heart from exploding out of the said part of her anatomy.

_Calm down! You're a Yamanaka for heaven's sake! Since when did we ever let a dream get to us so much? Damn! We're supposed to be the ones manipulating the dream itself!_

"I wonder...was it all real?" She wiped the beads of sweat off with the back of her hand.

Unfortunately her guts said it really _was_ real.

_Where am I? _

She relaxed a bit after recognising her environment.

_I actually think I might beat Naruto's record for the amount of being dragged into a hospital within a week. _

Suddenly the door opened revealing...

"Neji." She acknowledged softly, still feeling drained from the dream.

"Hn.." He stopped a meter from her bed and refused to look her in the eyes. If she didn't know any better she'd say that THE almighty Hyuuga Neji looked perhaps a bit awkward.

"Yamanaka..."

"Yeah, yeah.. Why don't you finally say it and then maybe we could get this thing over with as soon as possible."

"Yamanaka...-!"

She scowled. "Go ahead! Go on and tell me how stupid I was for not turning the Uchiha in, but _please_, and I _really_ do beg of you, please _don't _forget to mention the part where I would be dead if you wouldn't have saved my ass, which proves your point of _I-am-more-superior-than-tho_...-"

"Ino, _be quiet_ for once in your lifetime."

She froze. _Did he just call me... Naw.. probably didn't...call me ... Ino?_

"I..- I...-, " He fisted his hands to hide their shaking. "-.. want to tell you I'm... sorry... for not being able to rescue you on our first encounter and I..- "

"Neji.. are you, like, _rambling_?" Ino asked amused. That made him immediately shut up and tense even more if that were possible.

"Aww.. cheer up, Neji! You have completely no sense of even a lil' bit humor." Her eyes softened.

"And you don't need to feel bad about that, I mean, eventually you guys really _did_ kind of _save_ me."

He allowed himself to relax a bit, but then his features hardened.

"This of course, doesn't change the fact you were _entirely_ reckless with your actions and could've gotten yourself _killed._ You faced a confrontation with a_ S-class_ missin'-nin while you had a chakra-draining fight not even a _few hours _ago! And not only did you confront the said-nin, but you also _kept him hostage_ in your _own house_ with only a few _chakra strings _holding him back from hurting you?"

Ino laughed nervously. "You know, when you enumerate things like that, you make me feel kinda stupid."

Neji hmphed and unconsciously closed the distance. "Well, that's good. Since you _were_ acting like a fool indeed. In fact, if it weren't for my deciding to come...-"

" -..The bastard might have killed me. Yeah, yeah.. I know! You're not exactly the first to tell, you know! And the worst part is that Shikamaru and Sakura are yet to scold me.. _Reaaaally_.. "

"You deserve it." Neji commented as blunt as always.

"Whatever!" She answered sticking her tongue out.

* * *

"Godaime-sama! You're not really thinking about complying with the deal the traitor mentioned, are you!"

"Well, actually I _do_ think of complying with his request."

"But he's a missin'-nin! We cannot cooperate with scum! That would be lowering ourselves to their standards and make it seem like we are the weak ones!"

Tsunade sighed, facing a couple of elders and her top shinobi.

"I agree on the fact we shouldn't be making deals with missin'-nin, but there is too much too gain from this and we might never be able to get such a chance on our hands again. Think about it, the complete destruction of the Oto, including Orochimaru and also the discontinuation of the pursuing of Kyuubi no Kitsune, by one of the the strongest members of the Akatsuki. Which basically secures our own candidate Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto, who is also the container of the demon."

"But Hokage-sama! How can we be so sure he'll keep his part of the bargain?"

A somewhat familiar shinobi sighed. "Let me guess, the Unbreakable Vow, right?"

Tsunade's lips quirked upside. "Very well, Nara." She commented, being familiar with his genius remarks.

"The Unbreakable Vow?"

That statement brought a bit chaos in the room. Especially the elders discussed it loudly, clearly being shocked at hearing something they'd never even dream about hearing again.

"So." Again it was Nara Shikamaru who spoke. The room went silent. " What's the catch? This all sounds too good to be true. It's fishy. There must be something wrong about it."

Tsunade took a deep breath and prepared herself for what she expected, was to become a full blow.

"Well, actually there are two things he wants... He wants his inheritance given back to him...- "

"Couldn't we agree then, Tsunade-sama?" Shizune asked, wanting the boy she counted as her own brother to be finally left alone.

A lot of persons agreed with her, but one particular blonde narrowed his eyes and asked something the others didn't dare.

"What... what is the second thing he wants?"

Tsunade stopped playing with her papers and finally looked up, serious amber eyes gliding over the entire room.

"Naruto... He wants Ino. _Yamanaka Ino_."

* * *

Ino had just said 'goodbye' to Neji, who had to leave for an appointment, when a few minutes later she was visited by someone she wasn't prepared seeing again.

"Sakura..."

"Ino."

An awkward silence settled between them.

Ino looked at the tiny drops of water hitting the glas of her window. _Rain_.

"So.. " Sakura broke through the silence. "You're looking alright, _are you_?"

The blonde smiled wearily.

"I'm fine as fine as I can be in this shitty situation. So.. _yeah_.. I shouldn't be complaining I guess."

Sakura walked over and sat on her bed.

"He... " She paused, biting her lip. "He didn't hurt you or something, did he?"

Ino answered ,still not looking at the girl who had once been her best friend.

"No." She answered flatly, not wanting _her_ of all people to pity on her and think she was some powerless bimbo, who couldn't even defend herself.

Even though she couldn't really call Sakura her _best friend _didn't mean that the girl wasn't her _rival_ anymore. Just because the pink-haired kunoichi hadn't been mentioning it for a long time now, could still never make her forget _that_ day, when she declared her as a rival and threw their friendship away.

"I'm glad." The med-nin stated softly.

"Ino..."

"What?"

"I..- I..- I'm really _sorry_."

"_What_?" This remark _did_ make the blonde look at Sakura for the first time since _Pinky_ walked into the room.

"Why? What would you be sorry for?" Ino asked raising one pale eyebrow.

"I'm so sorry... _for everything_..." Sakura suddenly stood up and started pacing around the small room.

"I mean, good god... If someone would've told me that we two would end up this way.. I..- I..- What the_ hell_ did happen to us, Ino?"

Ino was about to open her mouth when Sakura beat her into it, raising her hand frantically.

"Wait! Just _please_ wait! I'd be naive if I couldn't answer that... I mean.. _what_ happened? I tell you _what _happened; _Sasuke_ happened. When... - When _he_ left, I thought we would turn into best friends again. Silly, isn't it? For me to assume friendship could just continue from were it was torn apart. Eventually I started to see it, but even then I assumed somehow we could build our friendship up; all over again. And.. And it seemed to work! I mean, although," Sakura paused and swallowed, while Ino was just gaping at her with her mouth wide open.

"Although I felt you didn't trust me, I felt us getting closer. You..- You called me _Forehead_ and I called you _Pig_. And with Sasuke gone, there wasn't anything stopping us from getting closer.. But now...-"

"..._He_'s back." Ino finished, looking away.

Sakura started pacing again.

"Yes. Unfortunately _Sasuke happened again_. I mean.. Ino.. you.. you couldn't even look me in the eye, _Ino_!! All that progress we made.. It's all..-" Frustrated, she ran her hand through her hair.

"We're back at where we started?" Ino helped her finish.

The pink-medic looked her right into her eyes. "_Exactly_!" She finally stopped pacing around and choose to sit on her bed yet again.

"Ino," She started softly. "I'm not going to lie to you. After so many years of persuading him together with Naruto, after so much blood, tears and sweat.. just for _him_ to return to _you_, who didn't even care enough to look for him, it..- it _hurt_. "

Ino's eyes softened. "Sakura, I..-"

Sakura shot her a small smile."No it's okay. You don't have to explain anything. Even though it was hard... I'm a big girl now, and somewhere along the road I started to learn that no matter how much I love Sasuke, he _is_ and always_ will_ stay _one insensitive asshole_."

Ino started chuckling. "Really, Sakura. This is starting to look w_aaaaa_y to dramatic. If you continue one of us might even cry, we wouldn't want that, now would we?"

'Forehead Girl's' features remained serious.

"The bottom line is, Ino, that I, no matter how much resistent you're planning on being, _will_ rebuild our friendship to the way it once was. And this time, I swear, _Sasuke_ will NOT happen _again_."

For a moment it was silent.

"_Wow_.. I didn't wanna say anything, but _Sasuke happening_ and _not happening_.. that just sounds..- I dunno, _plain wrong_." The blonde commented forcing the tears back, that were threatening to leak, while her lips trembled.

And with that both of them started laughing hysterically, while tears started to come out of , what seemed like, their entire being.

* * *

"ENOUGH!." Tsunade roared furiously, making the entire room shut up at long last.

"I know we're discussing a very delicate matter here, however, this doesn't justify you people screaming amongst yourselves like a couple of ... _grumble,grumble_... never mind." She growled, trying hard not to grab for the bottle of sake hidden under her desk.

Shizune would most definitely _not_ stop nagging about it for an entire _lifetime_.

"Anyway, I'm calling this meeting off, because I don't see the point of talking if nobody is even willing to try to listen. You may go."

A couple of elders looked as if they were ready to attack.

Tsunade tried hard not to snort. _Fools. Just please try to lay a finger on me, then I will finally have an excuse to kick your sorry asses. _

"But Godaime-sama!"

"I. Said. _Leave_." She gritted through her teeth.

They finally seemed to get her message and reluctantly backed down.

"Hai."

"Jiraiya, Nara, Uzumaki, Shizune, Hatake, Aburame and Yuuhi, you are the _only_ ones who may remain on your spots."

When the last elder walked out of the room, Tsunade's twitching started to stop.

"Finally."She muttered before she looked up to meet a few angry( the Nara-boy and Naruto), concerned ( Shizune and Kurenai), thoughtful ( Jiraiya, .._well that would actually be a first.._) and unreadable (Kakashi and Shino) glares.

"Tsunade-baba! There is NO way in HELL we can accept his offer! And as the one who actually holds the Kyuubi; I _won't_ trade Ino-chan in for my own safety!" Naruto cried furiously.

"I agree with what he says, Hokage-sama." Shikamaru sounded oddly cold. "The one important thing that distinguishes the Leaf from all other shinobi-villages is the fact that we treat our ninja like human instead of killing-tools. _If _you would trade Yamanaka Ino in... not only would it go against our protocol, it would _also_ make us betray our most important ideal."

"Although your story sounds really sweet to my ears, it can't just make me ignore the entire problem here. Because of some unknown reason Uchiha Itachi, currently residing in Uchiha Sasuke's body, wants to have the companionship of Yamanaka Ino on his journey.

Now, let's imagine we say '_No, thank you_.'.. What would confirm the fact the said kunoichi wouldn't be in danger? For all we know he may kidnap her on a mission or even at home ground. This is after all an _Uchiha_ we're talking about. If they did manage to get on our ground without us noticing the first time, what would stop them doing so for the next time?"

"Tsunade-sama.. Couldn't we guard her with the use of a couple of ANBU?" Shizune asked somewhat hopefully.

"We all know that the Uchiha's capacities, and with that I mean both of them, are far much higher than our own ANBU's. Unless we intend to guard her ourselves we cannot guarente her safety. And even then there is a possibility of failing" Shino stated bluntly, not showing his distress. Maybe Yamanaka Ino and he weren't that close, but they were comrades and had fought side to side many times. Konoha..- _No_, his life wouldn't be the same without her. She was one of a kind.

"And we also know that it is not realistic for any of us to guard her 24/ 7." Kakashi added calmly and reasonably.

"So you're saying we should hand her over to die..." Shikamaru growled dangerously.

"I _damn well _will make sure that _won't_ happen!" Naruto shouted.

"Lower your volume, brat!" Tsunade warned, rubbing her forehead.

Naruto was about to give her a piece of his mind when Jiraiya beat him into it.

"Have you spoken with Ino herself about it?"

Tsunade met his eyes. "No, not yet. I heard she recently woke up."

"Then if I may, Godaime-sama," Kurenai started. Tsunade motioned for her to continue.

"I think we should give her the option of accepting or declining her part in the deal. "

"There is a reason why I didn't mention that in the first place, you know." The Hokage stated wearily.

"I'm not sure if Ino is mentally able to make a decision right now. A lot of things have happened to her for the past few days. Things which may have an influence on her decision."

The toad-hermit pushed himself off the wall he was leaning on. "Tsunade-hime, you know as well as I do, that you can't protect people against their own decisions. In the end they have to choose their own path, their own right or wrong."

Tsunade sighed. "That is the most sensible thing I've heard you say in an entire lifetime."

Jiraiya chuckled lifelessly. "Even _I _have my moments every now and then."

* * *

In the midst of the 'v_eeeeeeeer_y-long-catching-up' Sakura's pager went off.

"So, who is it, Forehead girl?" Ino asked curiously.

Sakura checked the numbers on her tiny device. "Huh? It's Shisou."

The blonde motioned for her to go. "Well, why don't you go then? Before she starts to go all scary and stuff."

The pink-med-nin didn't move from her spot. "It says I have to take you with me."

Ino pouted unhappily. "_Aww_.. man.. This means I'm getting my butt whipped."

"Well we better get this over with." Sakura commented sympathetically.

* * *

"Shisou."

"Hokage-sama."

Tsunade nodded as an acknowledgement and motioned for the two young women to sit.

Sakura observed the room and tensed.

There must have been a meeting involving her friend..

She just hoped Ino wouldn't be that much in trouble, and Sasuke...?

That was something she didn't even want to think about right at this moment.

On her left, Ino wasn't feeling quite good also. The room was full of tension, weariness and anger. Not a particular joyful environment to recover from her stressful days and dreams.

And somehow she got this feeling things were going to turn out really,_ really_ bad.

Tsunade stopped tapping her manicured nails on her desk and looked right at her.

"Yamanaka Ino, I'm going to cut right through the case, because I don't want to waste any more time then necessarily."

"Hai." The blonde responded out of respect for her superior.

"First of all," The Hokage continued, "we have confirmed your statement about Uchiha Itachi residing in Uchiha Sasuke's body."

Sakura's eyes widened. She hadn't expected Ino to be actually right about that. She'd assumed Ino was drained and therefore seeing and saying things which weren't actually _there_.

_What's new! _Ino thought sarcastically. They took _this _long to figure _that_ out? To be honest she felt a bit insulted they didn't trust her abilities entirely yet.

"As for the reason I've called you here..."

Everyone tensed, including the pretty blonde.

"I have a mission for you."

Ino couldn't help but to call out; "You've got a _what_? A mission!" _What the hell?_

"Yes." Tsunade's voice sounded calm and clear, cutting right trough the awkward silence.

Her hazel eyes rested on the face of a young girl..- no, young woman, with confusion written all over her delicate face.

"Yamanaka Ino, you mission consists off a journey together with the missin'-nin Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Sasuke of an unknown period of time in which your life isn't warranted a certain safety."

Ino's mouth went dry and her eyes widened in pure disbelief._ No. No. No. No._

The Godaime didn't show her even an ounce of mercy and continued.

"Listen. You have 24 hours to accept or decline this mission. I recommend you to use that period of time good enough. 24 hours, exactly over 24 hours I'm expecting you to give me an answer. Have I made myself clear?"

The shocked blonde just nodded, not trusting herself to use her own voice.

The busty woman nodded in return as an acknowledgement. "Well, that's settled then. You may take your leave."

Ino slowly stood up, a shadow casting her face, turned around and left without looking at anyone.

Just as she stepped out of the room, her entire mask fell and she started to run out of the building.

To _run_, _run_, _run_ and to_ run_ to where her feet could take her. Far, _far_ away.

She finally arrived at the edge of the forest, when her soaked figure crumbled and she sacked to the muddy ground. Her back rested on a tree and her chest moved up and down in rapid movements as she tried hard to breath, leaving small puffs of visible air in the rain.

For the first time in a very long time she was scared to death.

And for some reason her fear had nothing to do with the dangerous mission or the high possibility-rate of dieing... and that thought alone... made her shiver, full of fear and disgust.

After all these years... her feelings... his return...

She was afraid there was a possibility that perhaps she still had feelings for him.

Seeing him alone had caused avalanches of emotions she thought she had buried somewhere deep within herself, to come back. What would become of her if she even were to consider on taking this mission?

The blonde clutched her face in her hands and started screaming. Her voice raw, full of anger and self-loathing.

Trembling she stood up, balling her shaking hands into fists. Her features were hard and with a loud battle cry she charged into the tree and hit it with all the frustration she could find within her entire being.

"H_aaa_!" Hit.

"I." Hit. Gasp.

"Hate." Hit. Hit.

"Hate." Hit. Hit. Hit.

"_Hate_." Hit.

"YOU!" Gasp. Hit. Gasp.

Blood splattered on her face as she savagely continued on hitting the small part of what was left of the tree.

Hit. Kick. Another hit. _Hate you! Hate you! Hate you! Hate you! Hate you! Hate you! _

Just as she was about to hit the tree another time, her fists were captured by a couple of strong hands.

Right then, her eyes widened in harsh realization.

It wasn't _him_ she hated...

"I...-" She whispered thickly.

"Hate..-"

Her eyes were dull now, and she let herself fall on the ground, dragging the person behind her down as well.

"..._Me_..." She finished shivering. Suddenly feeling very sick.

* * *

_(1) Matte: Wait!_

_(2) Chotto matte: Wait a sec!_

_(3) Yare, yare: Oh dear. _

* * *

**A/N: There it is... You've just read friggin' 13 pages of size 12, Times New Roman!!! I mean.. wh_aaaaaaa_mz', that's like, a LOT for someone like me to write. **

**And sorry.. I know that there (almost) isn't any progress at all, but I've worked on this chap for WEEEEEEKS and it's, like I've said before, huge enough. Even if I'd write more, it'd take another few weeks for me to update. Which was not an option, since I was gettin' upset messages of peepz, so I couldn't do it! **

**Pfftt... anywayz.. enough bull' from me. **

**I really hope y'all liked it...**

**Thanx for botherin' to read and please lemme know what cha think!**

**Boobaiz!**

_MisSs005_


	10. On

**ççççÖÖÖçççç/****Face down**** \ççççÖÖÖçççç**

* * *

_**Summary: Ino always prepared herself for the worst **__**situations, but finding SASUKE in her yard definitely caught her off guard. Especially when she just found out he was supposed to be dead, along with the Snake freak. Why is HE here, and what has Itachi to do with it?**_

* * *

"**Normal."**

_Thoughts_

_**Flashbacks**_

**Jutsu**

* * *

_**Just to refresh your memory ;)) Last time:**_

_Just as she was about to hit the tree another time, her fists were captured by a couple of strong hands._

_Right then, her eyes widened in harsh realization._

_It wasn't __him__ she hated..._

"_I...-" She whispered thickly._

"_Hate..-"_

_Her eyes were dull now, and she let herself fall on the ground, dragging the person behind her down as well._

"_Me__..." She finished shivering. Suddenly feeling very sick._

* * *

"Ino!" The worried shadow-user called out to the departing form of his childhood friend, while a pair of weary hazel-orbs rested on the scenery. 

"Nara, Uzumaki! Stay where you are. "The Godaime ordered sternly, already stopping the two young men before they had the chance to persuade the upset blonde.

Tsunade-hime sighed deeply.

"She needs to make this decision on her own."

"What-" Naruto started with a voice full of suppressed emotion, "are we supposed to do then? What the hell can we do if we're not allowed to help her, support her?"

Barely audible in the tense silence Shizune responded in a soft voice filled with sadness.

"Pray.. Pray and hope for the best."

* * *

Outside the rain was pouring as it never had done so before. Dark clouds were spreading above the sky as the last people were rushing their way home, leaving the streets of Konoha soundless and deserted. 

The silence was however disrupted as a sudden shadow emerged from a small alley, gliding in a fast pace over the empty roads. The figure was clad in a black outfit, with only a black cloak protecting _It_ from the cold pouring rain and making _It_ truly look like a shadow, a black sketch drawn with ink. Pale fingers held steadily onto the black hood as a violent fraction of wind yanked on it. _Its_ cloak was moved behind its back though, giving the impression of a pair of black wings, and now left the muscular chest of a man bare to the bad weather circumstances.

His fingers momentarily left the edges of his hood and were transferred to the cloak, attempting to wrap it once again around his form. The hood slightly glided of his head, showing a good amount of half-long black silky hair, as he almost reached his destination. He entered the forest and started to fasten his pace even more. For the first time in his life, his onyx eyes flickered with emotion. And then he finally found his target.

She was absolutely breathtaking.

He froze for a second, his black orbs observing.

The splattering crimson blood contrasted against her pale creamy skin as she continued hitting the hard surface of a now worn out tree. Her short blonde hair covered one of her eyes and water was dripping from the edges all the way to her lips, which had turned in a lovely shade of purple by the cold. Her long purple jacket looked heavy on her tensed form as she continued hitting and kicking, her voice carrying so many emotions he didn't even know the existence of.

And for a moment he almost felt envious of her. She portrayed everything he had never have in life.

_Emotion_.

The moment however, passed by quickly as he remembered his purpose.

In steady steps he arrived behind her and captured her bleeding knuckles in his hands, stopping her from inflicting more damage.

"I…-"

Her voice was close to broken now.

"Hate…-"

And she let herself fall on the ground. He let himself be dragged down with her as well.

"Me…-"

She finally leaned into his hold, and his bloodied hands released hers as he turned her around. Her dull blue eyes flickered with surprise for a second when they locked with his onyx ones, while he placed one toned arm under her knees and supported her back with the other one.

" Y-you." She whispered thickly, before darkness once again entirely consumed her.

* * *

Somewhere else Haruno Sakura cursed as she dropped a glass of water. Fractions of glass spread over the wooden floor, as she tried to control her trembling hands. 

_Can it get even worse?_

She bended down to clear the mess and cut her finger in the progress.

"I guess it can." She commented dryly.

It wasn't that much of a deep cut, but somehow she didn't feel like healing it.

The pink-haired nin bowed over her finger, closely examining the red dripping fluid.

_Sasuke…_

"You're such an asshole, you know?"

"I...-"

"I…-"

"I_hate_ you!"

_Liar. You never hated him and you still don't. _

_You_can't_ hate him. _

Green disgusted orbs were filled with angry tears.

_You're weak, just like he said you were. _

"Ino…-"

She allowed herself one tear to drop and watched how it mixed with her blood.

The cut stung by the little amount of salt.

"_**The bottom line is, Ino, that I, no matter how much resistant you're planning on being, **__**will**__** rebuild our friendship to the way it once was. And this time, I swear, **__**Sasuke**__** will NOT happen **__**again**__**."**_

_Ino, be strong for the both of us because I can't._

_I'm sorry. _

"Sasuke happened again."

* * *

Blonde eyebrows furrowed slightly as a pair of weary eyelids slowly opened. Dry lips formed a soundless moan, as the young woman tried to survey her surroundings. 

By the looks of it she was still in the forest, but this time in a small shed she recognised from one of her childhood missions.

"_**But Asuma-sensei- Come on! It's raining and my hair..-" **_

"_**No buts, Ino. We need to report our mission." **_

"_**But wh**_**yyy**_**? We already finished the stupid mission and we're all feeling tired. Why can't we just stay in the shed until the weather starts clearing up?" She nagged. **_

_**Shikamaru sighed and muttered a dark 'troublesome' before replying. **_

"_**It wouldn't make a good record if we couldn't arrive before the time limit." **_

_**The young teenage girl 'hmphed' angrily. "Whatever!" **_

She slowly got up and moved one hand to her head as she felt a sudden headache coming. After massaging her temple she looked up to see _him_ sitting across the fire he probably had made in order to keep them warm.

"I see you're awake." He commented monotonously.

She straightened her back in an attempt to relax her tensed shoulders.

"Sai."

He looked up. "What?"

She thought a couple of minutes, pondering where the hell she should start, and in the end settled on asking a simple question consisting of one word.

"Why?"

Ino eyed him expectantly, while waiting for a response.

"What are you going to do about Uchiha?" He asked in return, ignoring her question.

Her features visibly tensed as she looked away.

_What am I going to do? That's a good question. _

She bit her lip as an image of Uchiha Sasuke flashed in her mind.

He had changed.

His looks were somehow more mature as he had grown from a _pretty boy_ into a _handsome man_. His hair was quite longer, the bangs in front nearly touching his collarbone, and still had that slight navy glow. His skin was pale as always, but now had a rough edge on it. _His lips_…-

"You have two options." Sai continued, breaking Ino from her reverie.

Their eyes met as he continued. "You can either accept the mission and go with the Uchiha, or you can decline. Whichever you're going to choose; you have 14 hours left."

Despite the fucked up situation Ino couldn't help but to start laughing_real_ hard.

Here she was, about to take a decision one that would determine everything; her future, her heart, her_self_. And yet the way Sai put it was so utterly straightforward and seemed so simple that it almost made her hysterical.

Meanwhile the only reaction Sai could muster up was to raise one black eyebrow.

_It's probably the tension. It's starting to get to her. Yet... even in this situation, how is she able to illustrate such emotions? _

Ino's chest was rising up and down rapidly as she tried to stop laughing. Tears were rolling down her cheeks by now, but somehow after a while she finally managed to calm down a bit.

"Sai!" She hiccoughed. "You never struck me as the type of guy who could ever make me laugh, but _damn_, boy, congratulations for making me laugh on the worst day of my life. You might be what I need right now _after all_."

The young emotionless man merely shrugged.

The loud blonde let herself fall on her back and lay down alongside the source of heat.

Her facial expression turned to a more serious one and she sighed wearily.

"There isn't much of a choice is there?" The kunoichi chuckled bitterly.

_My head is telling me not to accept, for even before the mission that bastard put me in this state, yet my heart screams...-_

"At this rate it's not really about me, _my_ decision."

_That's right. Of course it's not about me, never about me. Stupid fucking Sasuke! What the hell do you and your fucking brother want of me anyway? _

"This mission was assigned to me because of Uchiha…"

"_**For a second you seemed honestly surprised, **__**Yamanaka Ino**__**. Don't tell me you possibly thought I wouldn't be able to know such a petty thing as your name, when I came all the way to your home."**_

_He came 'all they way to my home', so even if I'd decline, what proves the fact he won't just take me by force? _

"In other words, if I decline I'd probably be put under surveillance 24/7."

Ino closed her eyes. _After all those years I thought I'd become stronger. I promised myself not to let my emotions get in the way, yet.._

"You know what Sai, I'm kinda jealous of you."

She opened her eyes and pushed herself up.

"You can't feel emotions, right? _Believe me_; you're _not_ missing anything out." She continued while staring at the flickering flames.

As a response Sai took a notebook and started to sketch.

A couple of minutes passed with no sound except for the sparkling red and orange flames and the sound of Sai's pen on paper.

Finally his hand came to a stop.

"Here,_beautiful_." In one fluid motion he threw the notebook at Ino.

She quickly got up, just on time to grasp it with her battled fingers and grimaced as one of the wounds stung by the sudden movement. Before opening the blue notebook she threw the emotionless young man a questioning look and he just motioned for her to open it in return. In the end she decided to shrug it off and placed her attention upon the blue notebook she'd seen Sai quite often with.

She slowly opened it and gasped at the drawing on the first page.

It was_ her_!

And not only that, the image was drawn in such a way that it almost seemed as if she could come out of the paper anytime!

She turned the page over only to find yet another portray of her.

In the first one she had her famous flirtatious smile. The small one where her lips were just tugged upwards a bit. No teeth. Her blue eyes were bright, twinkling naughtily.

She turned over to the next page.

Two words; _Pissed_. Off. She couldn't describe it in another way. Her face was drawn without any emotion, but her eyes…

Those eyes, how the hell could he capture them? How was he able to see right through her? They were brimming with emotion.

She flipped the page.

_Again_. Her expression normal, but her eyes…- The way her lips pouted slightly.

The next one, and the next one, and the next- all of them- moments captured of her at times she didn't think anyone was looking- moments of happiness, anger, flirtation, sadness, childishness, business and so on.

She was about to comment when she turned over to the sketch on the last page.

Ino couldn't stop the audible gasp that erupted out of her mouth.

_This... This… It can't be!_

**Breathtaking.**

It was a picture of her, while hitting a tree. Blood was splattered on her face and rain dripped from her bang that covered her left eye all the way down to her lips which were set in a tight line.

Her eyes, from afar they might have looked dull, but when observed closely they captured so many emotions; despair, _frustration_, anger,_hatred_, confusion, _disgust_…

A chill went up her spine as she slowly looked up to the emotionless artist, her trembling hands closing the notebook.

"S-Sai!"

"You've always intrigued me, Yamanaka Ino."

"_Eh_?"

"To me you have been the definition of _Emotion_, from the moment I met you."

"B-but the pictures, they are…-"

"_Breathtakingly_ beautiful, aren't they, _beautiful_?"

"I…- I…-"

"Emotions, for me they're something non-achievable. They're a part of who you are, though. All together those emotions form you, Yamanaka Ino, the girl who can capture all emotions in one look."

Ino's features softened while Sai continued.

"Emotions are both your strengths and weaknesses, while not having them is my own strength and weakness." He finished attempting another 'empty' smile.

The pretty blonde stood up entirely, smoothed the crinkles on her purple jacket and walked right at the young man afterwards.

"Here." She said, while handing the blue notebook out to him.

"Keep it." He responded, fake-smiling all the way.

"Ne, Sai?"

"Hai?(1)"

"Arigato…-(2)"

However, what both ninja didn't notice was a pair of _crimson_ orbs, following their_every_ movement…

* * *

After her somewhat strange, yet satisfying encounter with Sai, Ino felt she could think in a more concentrated and clear way. She shook her head while chuckling softly at the thought of the Root-nin. At the moment she was walking to her last destination. 

"I'm here."

_Memorial for the fallen heroes of Konoha... _

"Hey sensei(3), what's up? No, literally! How is it there, way, _way_ up? You know I can totally see you there, floating on some cloud while smoking your cigarette as you watch over us. Anyways, I came here to tell you not to worry about our boys. I did my best in watching over them until now, _but now_…- but now they have grown into two strong and proud shinobi of Konoha, they have finally grown into men. And it's time for me to let them go, or in Shika's case give the leash to _another_ person." She allowed herself a small smirk here before continuing. "Bet you're laughing your ass off about Temari and Shika. It serves him right! At least now he'll think twice about uttering 'troublesome' in order to escape Temari's wrath." She paused and took a second to let her hand glide over the cold stone that consisted of hundreds of names, including her instructor Asuma's.

"I just, _I just_ wanted to say goodbye. I'll be going on a nightmare trip starting tomorrow and I'm not sure if I will turn back _ever_ again. "Her voice cracked slightly.

"Sensei… For the first time in my life I'm _so_scared. I just wish that you'd be here and team 10 would turn back to the old times where the biggest issue I faced was not being able to get that red skirt from sales, where I would whack Shika on his head and force him to come shopping with me, where I would screech at Chouji for taking the last piece of meatball. Where, _where_ I could permit being immature, naïve and innocent."

She fell on her knees and rested her head against the cold yet comforting stone.

"Why, sensei? _Why_?"

The blonde once again sighed wearily, raised her head and slowly got up to her feet after a couple of minutes passed.

"Sorry, once a drama queen always a drama queen, huh!" She exclaimed forcing a shaken smile.

_Bye sensei._

She straightened her back as a determent look settled on her pretty face, turned around and started walking towards the Hokage tower.

Yamanaka Ino had _never _backed down from a mission, and this was _no_exception.

"Heroes of Konoha, watch over my _fine_ ass, we wouldn't want it to get damaged now, _would we_?"

* * *

Tsunade was just about to take the final draught of sake left in the bottle when she heard knocking and ended up grudgingly putting it away somewhere under her desk. 

"Come in." She grumbled.

Her first apprentice entered with a worried look etched onto her features.

"Tsunade-sama, it's Yamanaka Ino and she's ready to inform you of her decision." Shizune stated solemnly.

"Let her in."

"Hai." Shizune turned around and disappeared only to re-appear a few moments later alongside Ibiki's praised apprentice.

The Godaime nodded at their entrance and motioned with a flick of her seemingly young hand for her secretary to leave. Then her hazel-orbs turned their attention back to the form of one of her gifted kunoichi(4).

"Yamanaka Ino, signing in for duty."

"Very well, before I'll ask for you decision, are you entirely positive about this? You still have two hours to go and from what I've been informed, you haven't even consulted your parents and close friends yet." Her thoughtful eyes locked with Ino's determent, stubborn ones.

"I wanted to make this decision on my own, Hokage-sama, without being influenced by others, even by my own family and friends." She responded soft, yet clearly.

"I see." The fifth sighed loudly.

_She's too stubborn just like her old man. I guess it's a Yamanaka trait. At this rate I can already guess what the outcome is going to be. _

"Well, let's get this over and done with." The Hokage straightened her back as her features grew serious and ruthless.

""Yamanaka Ino, you mission consists off a journey together with the missin'-nin Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Sasuke of an unknown period of time in which your life isn't warranted a certain safety. Do you accept or refuse?"

The blonde mustered up the most determent voice she had in her and answered;

"I, Yamanaka Ino, proud member of the Yamanaka clan and apprentice of Morino Ibiki accept this mission and swear on the honour of my family name and village that I will be willing to risk my life in order for the success and the benefit of Konoha."

Tsunade nodded and couldn't help but to feel proud of this girl, no _young woman_ in front of her.

"Here, these are the mission's requirements in more detail. You have one more day to prepare and will depart at sunrise." She handed a file over to the blonde.

Ino reached out for the file and grasped it with her battered fingers. The Godaime raised her eyebrow at noticing the wounds.

"Visit Sakura before you go, she'll know what to do."

"Hai."

"You're dismissed."

The mind walker turned around and was just about to leave the office when the Hokage spoke her final words. Words that would be imprinted into her mind forever.

"Ino, make him regret… and… thank you."

* * *

Tsunade's expression turned sour the moment Yamanaka Ino left. 

"You can come out now. Your spy-act may have fooled others but don't you dare to underestimate me, _Uchiha_."

A shadow appeared from out of the corner of the room and slowly walked in front of the Godaime's desk.

_Uchiha Sasuke _

His eyes were dyed in red and looked down at her in a nearly amused fashion. _  
_

"About time someone noticed." His tone was neutral, almost _bored_.

Her eyes narrowed considerably. "Remember, _traitors,_ I'm the _Hokage_. Somewhere along the way you might have discarded your duty and respect, but don't be fooled into forgetting _my_ power, Konoha's power."

"Whatever."

She eyed the young Uchiha suspiciously. "My part of the deal has been completed. _Don't forget yours_."

"_Hn_, consider it done."

With that Sasuke disappeared in an eruption of fire and left Tsunade alone to contemplate about the miserable situation he left behind.

"You were right, gramps... _Damn Uchiha_."

In a matter of seconds she grabbed the bottle of sake and gulped all of it contents down, craving for more.

This was going to be one _long_ night.

* * *

_(1)Hai: Yes_

_(2)Arigato: Thanks_

_(3)Sensei: Teacher  
_

_(4)Kunoichi: Female ninja_

* * *

_**A/N: Waaaaaaaaah I'm so sorry! Before y' all start throwin' tomatoes at me; I just wanna apologize. It's been quite hard for me to adapt living in an entire different country and environment than my own. Also my new school has demanded a lot of my free time. Damnz', I didn't even **_**come close**_** at having free time. :X**_

_**That's why I have been writing this now, in my winter break while I'm still home. Anywayz., enough whinin' on my part... I really hope ya liked it and that I haven't lost my ' touch' , since to me.. this chap kinda..- well not kinda; to me it just plain **_**sucks**

_**Let's hope that y' all be satisfied.. **_

_**Thanx for botherin' to read and please lemme know what cha think ;))**_

_**Volim te..**_

_**MisSs005 **  
_


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